Only Human
by ivoricity
Summary: Yakumo's name has been etched in blood by a ghost that has possessed a body. This ghost is clearly after something and Yakumo knows more than he lets on. A dark secret of his past is revealed and Haruka will pay the price of his most tragic mistake.
1. Chapter 1: Etched in Blood: Hidden

Only Human

Psychic Detective Yakumo

**Chapter One:** **Etched in Blood** ~_Hidden_ ~

Haruka Ozawa traced a shapeless line with her finger across the fog that had pressed itself against the interior of the car window, simply to pass the time of the seemingly endless and uncomfortably quiet drive. Despite the fact that the sun was still in the sky, the night's chill seemed to have seeped in a few hours ahead of schedule. Haruka was certainly starting to feel it and apparently it showed, hence the fog on the window. She was seated in the passenger side, currently being driven home on a Friday evening after classes by none other than Yakumo Saitou. Normally, Haruka would have insisted on taking the tram or walking home, like she usually did, but due to recent events, Yakumo took it upon himself to occasionally borrow his uncle's car and see that she arrived at her destination safely. Despite Haruka's persistent comments about how she was fully capable of taking care of herself, she almost always managed to wind up smack dab in the middle of trouble. Trouble that she had to be constantly pulled out of. She wasn't _entirely_ helpless, though. She had saved Yakumo's life once after finding out where he was being kept against his will, so he felt that he owed her at least that much. He also didn't want to be plagued with seeing Haruka's spirit everywhere he went if something were to happen to her, though Yakumo would much rather eat a stack of needles than admit that, of course.

Haruka, being utterly clueless to Yakumo's inner musings, felt nearly suffocated by the stifling silence between the two of them. She was the type of person who filled the quiet with words, even if it was just meaningless chatter, just to keep from encountering this exact, uneasy silence that tended to drag on for what seemed like an eternity. Nothing had happened between the two of them of course, it was just Yakumo's nature to stay quiet when there was nothing to be said. Haruka didn't entirely believe this however, and was starting to believe it was because he didn't know how to express himself through words. It was just a hunch though, and she would never bring herself to say it aloud, especially to Yakumo himself.

She fidgeted softly, desperately wishing she had some kind of interesting topic to discuss with Yakumo just to get the conversation rolling, but she was drawing an annoying blank, which was common for her, according to Yakumo, who frequently enjoyed calling her an airhead. Her eyes involuntarily slid over to him as she thought this. The strikingly red iris of his left eye was currently concealed by a contact lens that matched the color of his "normal" eye, much to Haruka's disappointment. She hated that he hid it from view since she enjoyed looking at it. In her opinion, it was very beautiful, which Yakumo thought was crazy. Haruka also disliked how he loathed it so much, since it was a very unique part of him. As if he sensed her gaze, he shot her a scrutinizing glance out of the corners of his eyes.

"What is it that you find so interesting that you have to keep staring at?" Yakumo asked her in a matter-of-factly tone of voice after turning his attention back to the road.

Haruka stumbled for words for a moment, her nervous fidgeting only increasing. "Umm … well… Could I perhaps turn on this radio?" She asked just as she caught sight of it, dodging the question. It seemed like it was a perfect distraction, both from his question and the persisting silence.

Yakumo rolled his eyes, not bothering to look her way. "Do whatever you please. Just don't ask me how to work it, I've never used it before," he mumbled to her.

Pleased with the recent turn of events, Haruka obliged and turned it on, scanning for a station she liked. As she searched, she felt that she had the right to bring up conversation now. "What kind of music do you listen to, Yakumo-kun?" Haruka asked innocently. It wasn't really meaningless chatter, well, not to her anyways. Haruka always jumped at the chance to learn more about her withdrawn friend, since he never shared such information very willingly. She just hoped he would answer her seriously.

Yakumo sighed. "I guess there's no hiding from your annoying voice forever," he mumbled, not seeming to care if she heard him or not. "As for music, I don't have much time or the patience for it," he replied coolly, once again reverting back to silence.

Haruka shot him a childish glare before turning her attention back to the radio. "Well I for one _love_ music," she informed him proudly.

"Yes, I know. You play that poor excuse of an instrument called a flute."

"Glad you remember," Haruka said sarcastically. "Ah, I love this song!" She exclaimed and fiddled with the volume, causing the upbeat tune to fill the cab of the car and began to subtly sing along to it, not caring what Yakumo thought about her singing voice one bit.

"…tanoshikena hototsu tonari no kimi watashi ha nani mo ienakute. Honto ha zutto kimi no koto wo dokoka de wakatteita. Mitsukatta tte todoki ha shinai dame day yo nakanaide sou iikikaseta…"

Yakumo groaned. "I think my ears are going to bleed," he complained, not bothering with being tactful.

Haruka found herself blushing slightly, not because of his snide comment, which she was used to and often ignored, but because she suddenly listened to the words she sang and took in their meaning. She immediately stopped and turned to look out the window, hoping fervently that Yakumo wouldn't notice. Haruka didn't really think of herself as a shy person, but lately she was starting to notice the way her body reacted whenever she was near Yakumo. Despite his rude and uncaring nature, Haruka couldn't deny that she was starting to feel something for him. Even though he was rude and verbally abusive to her whenever in his presence, he never hesitated to help her. Most notably, the time when she was thrown over a bridge to drown in an icy, dark river and Yakumo caught her hand, even proceeding to jump in after her after he lost his grip without hesitation.

Because of this, Haruka often pondered if there was something going on between the two of them that she couldn't put into words; that maybe there was a part of him that possibly felt the same way. Usually, those thoughts ended with her concluding that she had imagined it all; they were just friends, nothing more. Still, these thoughts lingered at the back of her mind, constantly butting their ugly heads into her conscious train of thought whenever they pleased.

The car pulled to a stop, subsequently pulling Haruka out of her reverie. She looked toward Yakumo, about to question why they had stopped when she noticed that they had arrived at her apartment complex. She opened the passenger door and got out, idly wondering if he would show her to her door. He suggested nothing of the sort and Haruka bade him goodnight after thanking him for the ride, to which he merely nodded before turning around and driving off.

Haruka sighed and returned to her apartment once the car was out of sight.

-x

Yakumo pulled into a local gas station, needing to replenish his uncle's gas as thanks before he gave the car back to him. Just as he turned off the ignition, he noticed a bundle of sea-green colored fabric in a heap in the passenger's seat: Haruka's scarf. _That airhead, _Yakumo thought with a grumble.

Yakumo had just finished refilling his uncle's gas tank with a fresh gallon of gas when his cell phone buzzed inside of his pants pocket, alerting him of an incoming call. Before he pulled it out of his pocket, he wondered if it was Haruka, calling to bug him about the scarf she annoyingly left behind. He checked the caller ID, and it was Gotou, the lazy detective that had a knack for pestering Yakumo with a case that required his "spiritual" powers.

He answered after sighing to himself. "What is it that you want this time?"

"Oi, Yakumo, you'd better head down here. There's something I think you need to see."

Slightly surprised at Gotou's sudden seriousness, Yakumo obliged without any further question. Gotou being serious and even slightly worried was never a good sign. After hanging up, he dialed his uncle and informed him that he will need his car for a bit longer, promising to refill it with gas afterward. Yakumo once again headed off, this time driving toward the police station without another moment's hesitation.

Within the next half an hour, he reached the station and was greeted by Gotou's grave and impatient expression. He gestured for Yakumo to follow him to his office.

"If it wasn't urgent, I would have waited until morning," Gotou said as soon as Yakumo was seated in front of one of the tables inside. He strode over to the large television and turned it on, pressing _play_ on the remote control. Yakumo watched the footage carefully as soon as it started rolling, examining everything in careful detail.

It was surveillance footage and in very poor quality; the date in the bottom corner informed him that it was shot about a week prior. The fact that it had recorded a rather dark area didn't help matters much. The dim street light barely managed to illuminate what appeared to be the side of a liquor store. Seconds later, the silhouette of a young woman came into view. Her face was partially obscured by the darkness, but Yakumo could tell that she was of medium stature, had dark hair tied back in a tight ponytail and was most likely around Yakumo's age, give or take a year or two. She looked around nervously before kneeling down and lighting a large candle which she had produced from her rather baggy coat. The girl stayed with her back to the camera for a few moments until Yakumo noticed a distortion of movement to the girl's right.

Yakumo narrowed his eyes. "Pause it," he ordered, leaning closer to the television screen. Sure enough, a ghost stood next to the girl, peering down at her.

"What do you see?" Gotou asked curiously, obviously unable to see what Yakumo could.

"There's a ghost standing next to her. She appears to be watching her," Yakumo pointed out. "Resume it, please."

As the footage rolled again, the girl jumped back in surprise, looking directly at where the ghost stood.

_Hmm …_, Yakumo mused to himself. _I wonder if she can see it as well._

The ghost extended it's hand toward the girl and Yakumo deducted that the ghost was female, due to the slenderness of her fingers. The girl stood uneasily and the ghost disappeared in a flash. The girl's head snapped backward just before she slumped to the ground and writhed contortedly, her mouth agape with screams that couldn't be heard through the tape. Finally, her movements ceased and Yakumo's eyes flickered toward the timer.

"She stays like that for a good ten minutes," Gotou said as if he guessed Yakumo's thoughts. Yakumo took the remote from him and began to fast forward. As he did so, he wondered what could be so important about this tape that required his immediate attention. It was obvious that the girl had been possessed by the spirit, but what else could –

Yakumo pushed _play_ just as he spotted movement from the girl. Her torso arched as she began to rise. She removed something long and slender from her coat pocket and drove it across her palm. A knife, Yakumo assumed. She proceeded to use her fingertips as a paintbrush to write something on the wall with her own blood. Gotou pressed _pause_ once again and zoomed inward for a closer look.

There, written in blood, was Yakumo's name. An icy pit developed in the bottom of his stomach and with a slightly shaking hand, he pressed the _play_ button himself. The girl turned away from the wall and looked directly at the camera. With the knife she just used to slice open her palm, she placed the tip underneath her left eye and slid it downward, creating a small gash that was suddenly all too hauntingly familiar to Yakumo. A pointedly sick smile resided on her face just before she vanished, leaving only the sinister image of Yakumo's name in blood in her wake. The screen went black.

A long moment of silence passed between them before Gotou gained the courage to speak. "Does it mean anything to you, Yakumo-kun?"

"Unfortunately, yes…"

-x

"Yakumo-kun!" Haruka screamed as she shot upward in bed, her eyes wide. She exhaled deeply and touched her palm to her sweaty forehead. _Another stupid nightmare,_ Haruka thought to herself, even though the image of Yakumo being tied unconscious to a chair in a freezing room was still freshly etched in her mind. These particular nightmares had been recurrent every night for Haruka ever since she found Yakumo very close to death after being held hostage by Miyuki Nanase, the crazed serial killer who slaughtered her own family. That night seemed as if it had happened just a day ago, instead of a mere two weeks. Nanase was still at large after she created a diversion to aid in her escape, created havoc among every police officer within twenty miles of the city. Haruka feared for Yakumo's safety as well as her own since she planned on killing Haruka to "break" Yakumo. Not to mention the fact that Yakumo's ever mysterious father was somehow involved in this.

Haruka lay back down and rubbed her eyes, hoping that sleep would come to her again, even though Haruka had no desire to revisit another nightmare like the one she just experienced. Unfortunately, Haruka was unable to capture even another moment of sleep that night, out of pure adrenaline of icy fear. As she lay in bed and stared at her ceiling, she wondered if Yakumo was sleeping at this very moment … and if he wasn't, was he thinking about her? Idly, Haruka lightly pinched the pendant Yakumo had asked her to hold on to. It belonged to his late mother, and it matched his red eye almost perfectly. She always found herself touching it when she thought of something involving him.

_Ah, my scarf!_ Haruka suddenly realized that she left the green scarf of her mother's in Yakumo's car. She resisted the urge to slap her forehead at her own idiocy or, as Yakumo would call it, her "air-headedness". She sighed and placed her arms over her eyes, thinking that if nothing else, she could use it as an excuse to visit him.

Morning seemed to take longer than an eternity to arrive and as soon as the rosy fingers of dawn crept through her blinds, Haruka shot up out of bed, more eager than ever to see Yakumo than normal. She hurriedly pulled on her outfit and gazed at herself in her mirror, righting any misshapen hairs around her face. Suddenly, she detected movement and saw the eerily distorted face of a woman take form within her mirror. Haruka blinked, but as soon as she did, it was gone. She shook her head. _I'm just delusional from the lack of sleep. I'm hallucinating now,_ she chided herself and hurriedly left her apartment after firmly locking the door behind her.

Haruka arrived at the university after just barely catching the 6 AM train. It was little after 6:30 and she hesitated, unsure if she should wake Yakumo up this early in the morning. Nonetheless, she swallowed these thoughts, reasoning that it was good to wake up early every now and then.

She knocked lightly twice on his door before trying the handle. It was locked, but she wasn't deterred. She still had the spare key he had given her and she opened the door without hesitation.

"Yakumo-kun, good morning, Sorry if I-"

Haruka looked around. Yakumo wasn't anywhere to be seen. She sighed to herself, feeling more disappointed than she should have been. She settled on his couch, determined to wait for his return. Just then, Haruka spotted her sea-green scarf carefully folded on the table in front of her. A pang of graciousness welled inside of her as she picked it up. As she always did upon feeling the soft cashmere, she pressed her face into it, only to notice that it had been recently washed.

_Folded _and_ washed…? Was this Yakumo's doing?_ She was quite startled to think that Yakumo would to go that far simply for her scarf.

Haruka curled her legs to her chest and rested her head back against the couch, feeling the sleepless night catching up with her. Before she could do anything about it, sleep crept up and claimed her.

-x

Yakumo returned to his dorm only find a very much asleep Haruka on his couch with her mouth open slightly, oblivious to the world. He sighed to himself.

"Freeloader as well as an airhead, huh?" He mumbled silently to himself. "Hey, freeloader, wake up. This isn't a hotel, go crash somewhere else," he called loudly. Startled, Haruka fell off the couch and crashed nosily onto the floor. She righted herself within seconds and nervously stumbled over her words.

"Ya-Ya-Yakumo-kun! You're back! I mean, I didn't mean to – I guess I fell asleep! What time is it?" He merely stared at her with one single eyebrow nonchalantly raised at her.

She piped in with a nervous laugh as she regarded her cell phone for the time. 7:45 AM.

"You're drooling, by the way," Yakumo noted, not moving from the spot.

She gasped and fervently wiped at her mouth before turning her eyes back on him. "Liar, I do not drool!" She exclaimed.

"Then why bother checking?" He said barely above a whisper as he turned away from her, heading toward his closet.

Haruka sensed that he was teasing her, yet she sensed there was something off about his voice.

"Yakumo-kun, did something happen?" She asked, all playfulness forgotten. He didn't turn around.

"Woman's intuition again?" Yes, there was definitely something off about the way he spoke.

She took a small, unsure step toward him, slightly worried as to what was bothering him. "You just seem…" She trailed off, unable to put her gut feeling into words.

Without a second glance at her, he pulled off his wrinkled shirt and shrugged into a new one just as quickly. Haruka didn't even have the chance to blush. She did, however, notice the very slight shake in his hands as he put the buttons in their place.

"Yakumo, just tell me. I can tell there's something-"

He cut her off before she could continue. "I can only speak with spirits, not help them. I never have been able to do anything more than that, nor will I ever be," he said, looking directly in her eyes. Haruka swallowed hard.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly as I said," he snapped, and then flinched to himself, as if he regretted his tone. He peeked at her out of the corners of his eyes again. "I have to leave again. I'll walk you back to your apartment." Haruka noticed dark circles under his eyes and that his face was paler than usual. Just like her, he appeared to have missed out on a night's sleep.

Haruka already knew she wouldn't get anything more out of him, so she didn't bother asking anything else. "N-no, it's fine. You need to get your rest. I can walk myself back." She gave him a sincere smile and left without another word and didn't return. After standing in silence for a few moments, Yakumo strode over to his window and looked out, sensing a spirit.

A woman stood directly across the street, gazing at the ground in silence. A small smile crept over her face as she slowly lifted her head to face to him, revealing a bloody scab just under her left eye. A large semi truck passed in front of her. As soon as it passed, she was gone.

-x

**A/N:** The song Haruka sings along to is Kimo no Shiranai Monogatari by Supercell. The part she sings is roughly translated to: "_As I stood next to you, who was enjoying himself, I stood there unable to say anything. The truth is, I somehow understood my feelings for you. I found it, but they won't reach you. This is no good, don't cry, I told myself_." Does this help explain why she was embarrassed?

This story takes place somewhere after episode 10 of the anime.

I don't intend for this story to be very long. Four chapters at most. Anyway, I hope you like it! Please leave me a review telling me what you think! :)

~Moon

-x


	2. Chapter 2: Vengeance of the Dead: Fear

Only Human

Psychic Detective Yakumo

**Chapter Two:** **Vengeance of the Dead **~_Fear_~

Haruka had to admit that sleep didn't come any easier for her the day after she left the club room. She knew that Yakumo had trouble coping with the fact that he couldn't help the spirits that he could see with his left eye, he had admitted this to her before. But Yakumo, who was rarely bothered or shocked by anything, was visibly shaken yesterday morning when he told her this. What could have happened to him to make him act that way? Haruka could only imagine that whatever had troubled Yakumo Saitou was something an inexperienced person like Haruka herself didn't want to encounter for as long as she lived. Even so, she wanted to help him somehow, in any way she could. Seeing Yakumo in that state had left her frightened and even slightly disturbed and she was rendered unable to get his quivering hands and pale complexion out of her mind, no matter how hard she tried not to think of it.

Haruka ventured out of her bedroom to her small kitchen and pulled open her fridge, examining its meager contents. Her stomach growled and she groaned in contempt, realizing she had forgotten to stock up on food yesterday when she left the club room. Suddenly, her phone began buzzing, which nearly jolted Haruka off of her feet with the shock of it. She hurriedly pulled it out of her pocket and answered it without looking at the caller ID, longingly hoping it would be Yakumo on the other end.

"Ozawa Haruka speaking…," Haruka answered in a definite tone as she closed the fridge door.

"Haruka-chan? It's Miki."

Haruka held back her sigh of disappointment at the sound of the distinctly female voice of her friend. "Oh, Miki-chan. Hi. How have you been?" She asked, finding herself slightly glad that Miki had called instead of Yakumo. _Maybe Miki can help get these things off my mind_, Haruka thought. Haruka and Miki had become significantly closer after Miki had been possessed by the ghosts of murdered girls. It was because of this that Haruka met Yakumo; she sought him out after hearing a rumor that he could help her friend. Lo and behold, he did. With his help, they tracked down the real murderer and put the souls to rest, saving Miki's life, to which she had been eternally grateful. Miki even admitted on one occasion that she felt like a "Cupid Angel" of sorts for causing Haruka and Yakumo to meet, her deepest wish being that the two would fall in love because of her.

"I've been doing well, actually. What about you? How is Saitou-kun been doing these days?" Miki added the last part simply to tease her friend.

Haruka paused, taking her friend's question seriously. She sighed into the mouthpiece. "He's acting strangely lately," Haruka admitted.

"Oh? Are you two on the outs?" Miki laughed lightly, trying to remove the damper on her friend's spirit, but to no avail. "Hey, why don't we go out for coffee? There's this cute little shop that just opened up… we should go! Besides, you need to get out more," Miki suggested.

Haruka perked up at the suggestion, remembering that her refrigerator was deprived of food. She agreed to meet her friend downtown in an hour. As Haruka washed up and readied herself for the outing, she wondered if she should give Yakumo a call just to see if he was doing any better, but she later decided against it, thinking that if he was in the same mood, she would wind up visiting him instead of going out with Miki.

Within an hour, Haruka met up with her friend at the said destination. The two greeted each other warmly and decided to journey to the quaint new shop on foot so that they could catch up with the latest campus gossip and the like. Haruka was so easily caught up in the all the news that Miki had to offer that her worries over Yakumo nearly slipped out of her mind. Well, at least they started to until Miki brought the subject back to Haruka's attention.

"Did you and Saitou-kun have a disagreement, Haruka-chan?" Miki asked after a moment of silence passed between them as they walked. Haruka glanced over at her friend, plastering an easygoing smile on her face.

"No, of course not. He was just acting peculiar, that's all. Even I don't know the reason behind it…" Haruka's eyes fell downcast as her heart constricted ever so slightly with hurt. Yakumo was not one to talk about his feelings openly, nor was he willing to discuss if something was ever bothering him, which tended to make Haruka feel extremely helpless and left out.

Suddenly, Miki stopped walking, which jolted Haruka to an abrupt halt. "Haruka-chan, look!" Miki gasped, pointing ahead of them. Haruka looked toward where she pointed and every muscle in her body froze. An icy pit developed within her stomach and her breath caught in her throat.

A brick wall of one of the old alleyways had been vandalized, but that fact wasn't why Haruka reacted in such a way. Her name was written on it with what appeared to be a thick, dark red paint. The two stepped closer to it for closer inspection and Haruka reached out to touch the still-dripping _H_ of her name, only to be stopped by her friend.

"Don't touch it, it's blood!" Miki exclaimed, her voice shaking with fear. "Oh, who would do such a thing? Should we call the police?" Haruka shook her head and swallowed the lump in her throat, managing a stiff smile despite herself.

"Don't bother. It's obviously just a prank, and it could be meant for anyone. Lots of girls have the name 'Haruka'." Even though this much was true, Haruka had a rather dreadful feeling about it. The whole ordeal felt portentously strange to her.

Miki was skeptical. She felt the same bad feeling just as Haruka did, but Miki felt that something like this should be reported to the police instead of being simply ignored. One does not commit a harmless prank by writing someone's name in blood. She had a feeling that it had something to do with Haruka as it was, despite the fact that Haruka herself denied it by stating that it could be about anyone with that name. Nonetheless, Miki nodded, unsure of what else to do without further upsetting her friend.

Haruka took her friend's arm and began to lead her away. "Come on, let's make it to the shop before it gets any later."

The duo arrived at the shop and ordered their coffee without uttering another word about the blood-ridden wall. They carried on simple conversation, but the two eventually trailed off, having run out of things to converse about. The ominous name written in blood nagged at the back of both of their minds until Haruka was forced to excuse herself from the table with a small smile and headed to the bathroom.

Once she had closed herself inside an empty stall, she retrieved her cell phone from her pocket and dialed Yakumo's number, listening anxiously to each ring. After each ring came and went, Haruka's hope that he would answer dwindled and finally dissipated when the voice mail picked up the call. Despite the warring feelings of anxiety and fear that boiled within her, Haruka managed an exaggerated sigh. "Jeeze, you never pick up your phone!" She chuckled lightly, but the icy uneasiness soon welled up inside of her again and her buoyant attitude extinguished like the flame of a burnt out candle. "Yakumo-kun… I wish you would have picked up. Something … something kind of spooked me. You never talk!" She rapidly shut her phone and proceeded to flush with color when she realized what she had just said. _Gosh, what's gotten into me? What's he going to think when he listens to that…?_

Haruka leaned up against the stall and closed her eyes, clutching her pink cell phone to her chest. Something was fluttering inside of her and Haruka's cheeks remained tinted with vibrant. _How embarrassing … I'll never be able to show myself to him now. _She remained in that position for a long while before she brought herself to return to the table where Miki sat waiting for her.

"Sorry about that, I had a phone call," Haruka explained and Miki nodded in silent understanding. The pair finished their coffee and before they knew it, it was time to part ways. Haruka waved goodbye to her friend, insisting on catching the train home this time, saying that her feet hurt from the long walk earlier, but in truth, Haruka was too afraid to be left on her own to make that same journey again, especially if it meant passing that wall again.

After she exited the train, Haruka mounted the stairs to her apartment and decided to call Yakumo again to apologize for the awkward message she sent him. The voice mail picked up just as Haruka reached her door, only to notice that it was standing wide open. She hesitantly stepped inside and twisted the handle experimentally, discovering that the lock had been broken. Something tipped over and shattered on the linoleum in her kitchen and Haruka jumped sky high, completely forgetting about the message she was recording.

"Who's there?" She called out in a timid voice, her fear-frozen legs restraining her from moving any closer. Silence answered her and Haruka extended her hand toward her wall to flick on the light, only to reveal a shadowy figure slowly heading toward her from the kitchen. Haruka gasped, her eyes wide as she attempted to take a step back toward her door.

"Haruka Ozawa," stated a distinctly feminine voice. The shadow stepped into the light to reveal her face to the now-terrified girl. Haruka nearly dropped the phone she held in her hand. The woman's beady black eyes were eerily distorted and her face was marred by a fresh gash underneath one eye. Hair as black as coal fell messily in her face when she moved, nearly obscuring the cut.

"W-who are you? I'm on the phone with the police!" She did her best to sound brave, even though her stomach was doing flips and cartwheels and her throat refused to take in even a single breath.

The woman's pale lips slid into a malicious smile as she stepped within an arms width of her. Haruka's finger hovered over the 'send' button on her phone, hoping that when she sent it, Yakumo would listen to it and know she was in trouble. But before she had a chance to react, the woman suddenly struck her over the head with something solid, causing her to cry out and tumble to the floor in unconsciousness. The woman retrieved Haruka's still recording phone and laughed as she intentionally pressed 'send'.

-x

Yakumo sat in the university's silent and nearly empty library, gazing intently at the computer screen he was seated in front of. The page was a Missing Person's report that had been filed a little less than a week prior with a picture of the girl that had been the star in the surveillance footage.

"Found you," mumbled Yakumo as he printed out the page of information and left, heading toward his uncle's car. Before he stepped in the car, he turned his phone back on after he had been forced to turn it off when it rang noisily inside the library, earning him a nonverbal threat from the librarian. He flipped it open, noticing two new voice messages from Ozawa Haruka. Narrowing his eyes in curiosity, he pressed the phone to his ear and listened.

He was greeted with an overdramatic sigh that could only belong to a certain airhead that he knew all too well. _"Jeeze, you never pick up your phone!" _her recorded voice chided him, followed by a small laugh that sounded oddly strained to Yakumo. She paused for a moment. _"Yakumo-kun… I wish you would have picked up. Something … something kind of spooked me. You never talk!" _The call abruptly ended and Yakumo's eyebrows shot upward.

_Jeeze, that girl._ He sighed and pressed delete before listening to the next recording.

This time, he didn't hear her voice right away. He heard her obnoxiously loud footsteps as well as her breathing on the other end and was a second away from shutting his phone, thinking it was a misdial, when he heard her gasp. His attention pricked and he turned the volume up, listening hard. Something that sounded like glass broke in the background.

"_Who's there?" _

Haruka's voice sounded absolutely terrified. He heard her gasp again as well as another set of footsteps and he finally realized what she was doing. _She's recorded this on purpose, knowing I would hear it later…,_ he concluded, feeling his insides churn.

_"Ozawa Haruka,"_ said another female voice in the room. Yakumo strained his ears as he tried to identify the voice, only to draw a frustrating blank.

_"W-who are you? I'm on the phone with the police!" _Haruka said, obviously hoping that would scare off whoever else was in the room, which was actually rather smart on her part. If only she had been on the other end with the actual police. Seconds later, a sickening smash resounded through the earpiece followed by an outcry that came from Haruka. The phone must have tumbled out of her hands for all he heard was static for a moment. Yakumo heard the sound of a feminine laugh just before the message disconnected.

Without wasting another second, he shut his phone and drove off, speeding toward Haruka's apartment. Once he arrived, he skidded to a stop and took the stairs two at a time. He raced toward her apartment only to find that the door had been smashed open and the place empty.

"Haruka!" Yakumo called out as he looked around the eerily dark and silent room. Suddenly, he looked down, noticing a spot of what appeared to be blood on the light tan carpet. He stooped over and ran his fingers over it, finding it to be dry as dust. Yakumo cursed as he stood back up and rushed out of the apartment, fearing that he had been too late.

-x

Haruka slowly came to and groaned as her head furiously pounded within her skull, threatening to implode at any second. Her eyes were greeted by a dim, yellowed light, which was almost too much for her to bear and only increased the pain in her head.

_What …happened…?_ The question had barely finished forming itself in her mind before everything rushed back to her with frightening intensity. She had returned home after having coffee with Miki, only to find it had been broken into by a strange woman. _What happened after that…?_ Haruka wondered when she failed to remember. She tried to move, but quickly realized that her wrists and ankles had been bound tightly with rope that was starting to furiously dig into her skin. Panic began to set in as she looked around, desperately trying to find out where she was. She was obviously indoors, but couldn't tell much more than that.

Out of the corners of her eyes, Haruka spotted a figure standing beside her and she gasped, craning her neck to get a good look at her. It was the woman who attacked and abducted her. Contempt rose within her like bile in the back of her throat. Haruka glared at the woman and struggled against her bindings, never breaking her gaze away from her. The woman, however, seemed oblivious to Haruka almost entirely. She examined her hands and arms as if she had never seen them before.

"What a solid body this is … I'm glad I chose it…," She said to herself, almost wistfully.

Haruka was caught off guard by the woman's comment. "Are you a spirit?" She asked before she could stop herself. The woman's smile slid off of her face and her eyes slid toward Haruka, narrowing to dangerous slits. Before Haruka had a chance to brace herself, the back of the woman's hand struck out and smacked her across the face. Hard. The sound of it echoed through the empty house and Haruka cried out in pain, tears welling in her eyes.

The woman smirked, seeming satisfied. "Yes, I'm a spirit. My name was Aiko when I was alive. Sound familiar?" The woman –Aiko- leaned in closer toward Haruka with a wicked grin on her face. "It rhymes with _Saitou_, does it not?"

Haruka's eyes flew wide as Aiko revealed this to her. _She … she knows Yakumo?_

Aiko backed away from Haruka and tilted her head upward to gaze at the ceiling. "Now … revenge can finally be mine." Her dangerous eyes slid back to Haruka. "Revenge against the one who abandoned me."

-x

Yakumo silently set the papers he printed from the library down on the table in front of Gotou.

"Kuroyuki Toshi?" Gotou stated as he read the boldface name next to the picture of a dark haired girl on the paper without a smile.

Yakumo merely nodded with a stoic expression resided on his face. "She went missing about a week ago. She matches the girl in the footage. I'm quite certain she is the one that the ghost possessed." Yakumo's fingers traced one of the papers. "According to multiple sites, she was obsessed with the dead and seemed to have stirred up the ghost intentionally. Because Kuroyuki was compliant, the ghost gained total control of her body, no questions asked."

Gotou watched Yakumo carefully. "The ghost being Aiko Yoshima?"

Yakumo's hand stilled to a halt and he grew silent.

"You still haven't told me what your connection to her is yet. You rushed off before you explained," said Gotou, willing for Yakumo to evaluate.

Yakumo looked over at him, suddenly very serious. "Aiko Yoshima went to the same Senior High School as me." He paused for a moment. "She wasn't very outgoing and grew embarrassed at the littlest things. She always told me … that her first name sounded like my last."

Yakumo turned away and closed his eyes, his eyebrows pinching together. "She left my side when she saw the true form of my left eye and learned what I could do with it. I didn't see her again until a year later when she came begging for my help, claiming that she was regularly attacked by a spirit." Yakumo closed his eyes, his hand involuntarily covering his right eye. He could remember the day in perfect clarity, as if it had happened only yesterday.

"_Saitou-kun, please. I'm begging you."_

_For a long, silent moment, Yakumo gazed at the desperate girl who stood in front of him, wringing her trembling hands around the hem of her dress. She had obviously dashed her shy and timid demeanor since they last saw each other, as well as the kind aura that always used to emit from her. _

_ "I see no spirits in your presence," he told her simply and began to close the door. Aiko stopped the door with her hand._

_ "You think I did this to myself?" She asked in a voice that cracked with each syllable as she pointed to a vicious scab under her eye and to the bruises that resided under her jaw line and feathered across both of her wrists._

_Yakumo couldn't deny the urge to do what she asked, yet he had the undeniable aspiration to turn away from her like she turned away from him. "Yes, I do actually. A spirit is merely a bundle of emotions and cannot interact with the physical world."_

_Aiko visibly flinched, as if he hit a nerve. "Saitou-kun, I'll pay you whatever you want. Just please- please make it stop. Please help me." Yakumo could see the desperation in her eyes as she pleaded with him. Finally, he sighed._

_ "Even if I do agree to help you, I can do nothing but talk with the spirit. If it's harming you as you say it is, then talking may prove effortless." _

_Aiko took Yakumo's hand between both of her cold and shaking ones. "Please. At least try…"_

_He removed his hand from hers and reached up to remove his green contact lens, revealing his bright red iris. Aiko's breath caught and her gaze shot directly to the floor, refusing to look at up at him. "You want my help, yet my eye repulses you. You can't even look at me."_

_Aiko's hair obscured her face and she cupped her hand over her mouth as silent tears streaked down her dirty cheeks. She once again claimed Yakumo's hand and slumped to her knees, her frame quivering with sobs._

_Yakumo replaced his contact and closed his eyes, feeling as if he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Finally, he succumbed. "Fine. I'll help you."_

_The light came back into Aiko's eyes as she looked up at him, finally returning his gaze. "You promise?" Her voice was so filled with newly restored hope that Yakumo couldn't help but answer her._

_ "I promise," he told her before he realized he had just sealed his fate._

Yakumo recounted this story to Gotou who sat nearly motionless for the duration of it. "I take it you couldn't help her?" Gotou asked, stating the obvious.

"No. There was nothing I could do for her." Yakumo crossed his arms.

"Well, what happened?" Gotou prodded.

_Yakumo's patience was wearing thin. He had been waiting in Aiko's home in silence for the past three hours with nothing happening. _

_ "He'll come, he always does," Aiko constantly insisted as she stared blankly at her hands which were neatly folded in her lap._

_Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity, Aiko's head snapped back and she uttered a single, strangled noise from her throat. Yakumo, fully attentive to her actions, instantly went to her side. But instead of actually physically harming her, the spirit –who Yakumo deducted to be male- latched onto her body and possessed her._

_He tried speaking to it, but nothing he seemed to get through to it. It completely ignored him._

_Aiko suddenly screamed and began to thrash about. Her own hands clawed at her face and Yakumo grabbed her wrists, trying to restrain her from further harming herself. Her eyes flew open and tears cascaded down her cheeks._

_ "Do—something!" She screamed at him in a distorted, her face contorting with anger and fear._

_Before Yakumo could work up a reply, the spirit passed out of her and disappeared. Aiko went still, breathing heavily. She finally began to cry as she covered her raw face with both hands._

_ "Aiko-" Yakumo began, trying to reach out to her._

_Aiko sat up and glared at him with such a fiery hatred burning within her eyes that even Yakumo himself was taken aback. "You lied! You lied to me!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, her entire frame shaking with rage._

_ "Aiko-san-"_

_Aiko was on her feet, her contorted face just mere inches from Yakumo's. "You said you'd help me! You promised! Why? Why didn't you do anything?"_

_Yakumo stood as well and backed away from her, preparing to leave, being as the girl was bound to refuse any form of reason he had to offer._

_ "It's because you don't like me. You've never liked me! That's why you won't help me!" The girl rambled on in a broken voice with tears pouring down her face like a geyser had erupted behind her eyes. _

_Yakumo opened the front door and stepped out into the chill of the night. Aiko focused on him just before he shut the door. "You are a liar, Saitou Yakumo," she hissed._

_He closed his eyes and shut the door behind him. Just before he walked away, shrill screams accompanied by sobs came from behind the door._

_ "Don't leave me! Please!" Aiko cried, but Yakumo ignored her and walked away from that house, leaving Aiko and her screams behind him._

Yakumo scraped his hand over his weary face. "She committed suicide a few days later by setting her own house on fire and burning within it."

Gotou swallowed hard. "And you think she's back … as a ghost … to … to do what exactly?"

Yakumo locked eyes with him, his hand covering the bottom half of his face. "Most likely to get revenge on me for what I did to her."

"What does this have to do with Haruka-chan, though?" Gotou asked, still perplexed. He failed to find a link between Yakumo's story and Haruka's disappearance.

Yakumo's eyes hardened. "I don't know," he answered through grit teeth. He, too, couldn't figure out what Aiko could possibly want with Haruka, which deeply bothered him. Yakumo suddenly thought of the spot of blood on her carpet and he winced.

Two solid taps resounded on the door and Ishii strode in, harboring a grim look. "Detective Gotou-san, I found something that involves Haruka-chan." Ishii sauntered clumsily over toward the television and placed a VCR tape in the outdated player and pressed play. Yakumo and Gotou sat up as the tape began rolling.

It was more surveillance footage, but this one was taped just hours earlier on that very day. The street the camera had been placed on was obviously regularly busy and congested with foot traffic. Yakumo's eyes narrowed as a young woman stepped out of the crowd of people and began to write on the brick wall with her fingers. Not one person seemed to take notice of her, which was definitely odd. The girl stepped away, revealing what she had written. Gotou gasped.

Haruka's name. Written in blood. Just like Yakumo's had been.

The girl turned and faced the camera, seeming to look right back at Yakumo. It was Kuroyuki Toshi, or rather, Aiko, who had possession of her. She smiled mischievously just before she vanished within the hoard of walking people. Seconds later, he spotted Haruka walking with a friend and nearly lost his composure. The girl's noticed that wall and Yakumo closed his eyes, unable to watch anymore. He suddenly realized that that was what Haruka's first call had been about; that had been what had spooked her. If only he had answered the phone…

Just then, something clicked in place in his mind. He suddenly realized exactly what Aiko was up to with Haruka.

"She's doing this to get my attention," Yakumo said at last pulling his hand away from his face. "She wants me to feel everything she felt when I deserted her. And she's using Haruka to get that out of me."

-x

**A/N:** So it seems as if the anime has ended with episode 13 and it looks highly unlikely (unfortunately) that there will be a second season. It had a dramatic albeit sad ending, but I thoroughly enjoyed the series, which hasn't happened to me in a long while. With the ending of this chapter marks the halfway point of my story and I hope you're enjoying it so far :)

As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please post a review letting me know what you think.

P.S., at the end of every story I write is a FAQ page, so please gather some questions you want to ask me about this story! You can leave them in a review or PM me and I will answer it on the FAQ page!

~Moon

-x


	3. Chapter 3: Feeling of Horror: Surrender

Only Human

Psychic Detective Yakumo

**Chapter Three:** A Feeling of Horror ~_Surrender_~

_"Now … revenge can finally be mine." Her dangerous eyes slid back to Haruka. "Revenge against the one who abandoned me."_

Haruka desperately wanted to touch the tender spot on her cheek in order to try and console the stinging, burning agony that ravaged at her skin in any way she could. It hurt her to make even the slightest of facial gestures. That unfamiliar wave of rage once again built up inside of her and Haruka frantically thrashed against her bindings, wishing she could do more than simply glare at the evil woman that had so furiously hit her.

"How do you know Yakumo-kun?" Haruka demanded to know, suddenly feeling more fear for the boy she cared about than for herself at the moment.

Aiko's eyebrow rose and the corner of her mouth turned up in a cold smirk. "Making demands again, sweetheart? I can see Saitou-kun hasn't trained you properly. Maybe I should slap you again," Aiko suggested in a thoughtful voice.

Haruka involuntarily recoiled at her proposal, fearing another onslaught of torment on her already aching cheek. Aiko laughed airily and narrowed her eyes to cat-like slits. "I guess I can tell you, though. You deserve to know how much of a traitorous leech your dear Yakumo is."

Aiko turned away from her and walked over to the window at the front of the room. A long moment passed before Aiko spoke again. "I fell in love with him as easily as you did. I'm sure he was the same then as he is now: cold and seemingly uncaring to what took place in the world around him. Before I brought up the courage to formally meet him, I always watched him from afar. I was shy and insecure, and I felt that Saitou-kun was the same way. People never accepted him and often bullied him, which I could never understand." Aiko's hand clenched into a tight ball. "When I first heard a teacher call his name, I realized with unbridled joy that our names rhymed. I always wrote '_Aiko Saitou-chan_' on every stray piece of paper I owned after that." She looked over her shoulder at Haruka, causing her dark hair to spill over her back. "See? It had a ring to it, did it not?"

Haruka said nothing and refused to meet Aiko's eyes.

Aiko shrugged to herself and resumed her story. "Finally, we encountered each other. He was cold toward me, but he had a twisted sense of humor that I cherished to hear every time I was around him."

Haruka couldn't help but feel that she could relate to this fact. Yakumo constantly made fun of her, but he had another side to him that occasionally appeared. Every time it did, Haruka treasured seeing it as well as being able to share that moment with Yakumo. Undoubtedly, it was what caused her to fall so hard for him in the first place.

"I thought he loved me, too," Aiko continued in a suddenly mellow voice. "He always chose me to study with after class, although I never could teach him much. He was a genius. In every subject. This is why I thought he returned my feelings. Why else would he choose to spend his time with a dimwit like me, when he could be doing something else more important?" Aiko's face took upon a faraway look and a sad smile touched her lips. "I kissed him once." A ghost of a laugh escaped like a breath from between Aiko's pale lips. Her hair fell into her face to obscure her eyes. "It was long after school ended. He was busy writing something and the setting sun fell into his face in just the right way. I thought he was so handsome then, and I couldn't help but stare. Then, I just leaned forward and pressed my lips against his."

A bright wave of jealousy welled up as tight as a ball inside Haruka's chest. _So he'd already been kissed by someone…_Haruka couldn't help but feel hurt and she resisted the urge to cry.

"He didn't kiss me back, he was so shocked. 'What are you doing?', he'd asked me, as if he didn't know." She paused and the small smile fell from her face. "He left the classroom. I didn't see him again for a long time after that. He didn't come to school for at least a week. When he finally did, he approached me without hesitation. Then he removed his contact and showed me his hideous eye and told me what he could do with it. I was terrified. The boy I fell in love with was cursed with the devil's gift." Revulsion crept into Aiko's voice as she said this.

Haruka narrowed her eyes at the woman in front of her. "And you deserted him," Haruka guessed. "How cruel," She seethed. "Couldn't you have imagined his pain if he felt the same toward you?" _God forbid, if he did._

Aiko was in front of Haruka before she had the chance to blink. Her features were contorted with rage and her icy fingers wrapped around Haruka's throat. She began to squeeze, and Haruka could do nothing but struggle to breathe. Aiko's strength surprised her and she didn't seem like she was planning on letting her go any time soon. Aiko face relaxed and she released her immediately, knowing that killing her would destroy her entire purpose she had set out to accomplish in the first place. Haruka gasped in as many welcomed breaths as she could until her head began to float and she began coughing, which rendered her speechless for the time being.

"I realized that I was unkind to him. But I feared that eye. It haunted my dreams every night. I even thought that it was he who sent that spirit to attack me at first. Even so, I tracked him down and begged him to help me once it got bad enough." Aiko turned back to her. "He was almost _disgusted_ to see me." A wicked gleam filled her eyes. "He showed me that _eye_ once again, you know. In attempt to turn me away, I suppose," Aiko continued. Her jaw set. "But I couldn't help it. I needed his help. I could only think of how heartless it was of him to try and refuse me."

Haruka closed her eyes and resisted saying what was on her mind. _Yakumo's eye is beautiful. He was born with it; he didn't choose to have it. Besides, he's saved lives with it. How can you feel such contempt toward it?_

Aiko continued in her story without missing a beat. "He agreed to help me, but he was reluctant and drawn back from me, like he constantly regretted his choice in doing so." Aiko clenched her fists. "When the spirit came, he did nothing. He let it take over me. He let it attack me!" Aiko suddenly whirled toward Haruka. Her beady eyes were alight with rage and Haruka once again feared she would strike her again. "Saitou did nothing. Absolutely _nothing_. Then, he left me there in that room. I begged him not to leave, I told him that I needed him, and he simply walked away."

"Yakumo-kun isn't a cruel person! He must have had some reason to-" As soon as the words slipped from her mouth, Haruka regretted them. She braced herself just a mere second before her face received another painful blow. This time, blood erupted inside her mouth, and Haruka bit back a howl of agony. Red hot tears slipped from her eyes and ran down her raw face, just as silent as she. Despite what Aiko told her, Haruka refused to believe it. Yakumo would never just simply walk out on someone when they needed him. She knew him better than that. Something in Aiko's story had to be frayed.

After a long, silent moment dragged on between the two, Aiko finally sighed. "So I killed myself. I couldn't take the torment anymore. Everyone I spoke to someone for help, they refused me. But they didn't matter. No one's betrayal hit me as hard at Saitou's." A strange flicker of emotion passed over Aiko's face and Haruka wondered for a fleeting moment if she would cry. As Aiko turned toward her, Haruka did see bright tears swimming in her eyes. But in a flash, the emotion was gone and the cold grin had returned. "I set my house on fire with myself inside of it. Unfortunately, I passed out from the fumes before the flames got to me." She sighed wistfully. "I was so sure I wanted to feel the agony of that fire."

Haruka blinked, feeling a small gasp of air escape her body. This person was not only psychotic, she was also masochistic. And Haruka was left completely at her will.

"But now I know that it wasn't _myself_ that I wanted to hurt. It was _Saitou_. I want him to feel exactly what I felt when I was abandoned by him by ripping the thing that is most precious to him from his life forever." She gave Haruka a strange look that she could only interpret as a mix between jealousy and glee.

Haruka's eyebrows knitted together in astonishment at hearing Aiko's words. _Is she talking about me…? She thinks I'm Yakumo's most precious thing? _Haruka swallowed hard and began to shudder as she took in the meaning of Aiko's words. _She's going to kill me. She's going to kill me to torture Yakumo!_

Aiko's hand dove into her coat pocket and dug around for something for a moment. When she pulled her hand out, Haruka flinched and immediately snapped her eyes shut, but no onslaught of pain or death came. When she opened her eyes, she found that Aiko had hold of Haruka's pink cell phone. Aiko smirked and flipped it open. "It's time to give your beloved a call. Oh, you don't seem to have many guy friends listed here, sweet. Could it be that Yakumo is the jealous type?" Aiko asked her with a malicious giggle as she scrolled through the contacts on Haruka's phone. "Yakumo Saitou, Yakumo Saitou…Ah, found him. Shockingly there's no heart next to his name…" Aiko reached inside her coat pocket once again, this time to retrieve a long and glowingly sharp knife. Haruka gasped and tried to move away as the knife came toward her, but to no avail.

Aiko rested the blade against Haruka's throat and smiled at her. Finally, she cut the rope binding her ankles. "Stand up," she ordered. Haruka did as she asked and found that her legs nearly buckled under the weight of her body. Aiko caught her roughly around the middle and supported her weight, her sharp fingernails digging into her side. After she dialed Yakumo's number, she launched the speaker phone setting and thrust the phone against Haruka's ear. It rang for two solid rings before she was greeted by Yakumo's voice.

_"Haruka, where are you?"_ He demanded in a voice much akin to that of the one Aiko had just used to get Haruka to take to her feet. The sound of it echoed through the empty house and Haruka nearly cried. How she longed to hear his voice…

"Yakumo-kun-"

The phone was pried away from her ear. "Hello, Saitou-kun," Aiko purred, grinning like an evil cat.

"_Aiko."_

Haruka winced as Yakumo said her name, which was a confirmation that he indeed knew this woman after all.

"Long time no speak. How've you been?" Her cruel voice feigned friendliness for a second, but Haruka knew better.

_"Tell me where Haruka is,"_ Yakumo insisted. Haruka grimaced at hearing the slight worry laced in his voice.

"Hmm, you're not quite as worked up as I thought you'd be. Going to have to fix that…" Aiko stated in a simple voice, ignoring his command entirely.

_"I refuse to play games with you. Tell me where she is. Right. Now."_

"Ah, that's a bit better. All in good time, Saitou. Haruka's fine for now. I'm taking _excellent_ care of her." Aiko shot an icy look at Haruka and lifted the blade to her neck once again. Blood began to draw at the pressure. Despite how strong and collected she wanted to remain for Yakumo's sake, Haruka couldn't help but whimper out of fear for her life.

_"Haruka, don't listen to a word she says. She's trying to manipulate-" _Yakumo's voice instructed, this time intended for Haruka.

"Yakumo, how rude or you. Are you suggesting that _I'm_ the liar?" Aiko interrupted. "After all the lies you fed me…" Her voice had taken on a menacing tone. Haruka shook in her shoes, unable to look anywhere but at the ground.

There was an elongated pause before Yakumo finally replied. _"Why are you doing this?"_ His voice sounded haggard and Haruka yearned to comfort him, or at least work up the courage to speak and tell him that she was alright.

Aiko laughed lightly and shifted her weight. "Oh, many reasons. All of which you know. For now, I'm just going to let you worry about your little kitten here. Worry in silence until you can take it no longer. Wonder in horror about what I'm doing to her. Suffer endlessly not knowing where she is until days of sleep are lost. Then, we'll talk again." Aiko pushed Haruka to the ground and straddled her with the knife pressed against her welted cheek.

_"If you even-"_

Aiko applied pressure on the knife and slid it down Haruka's skin, causing a small river of blood to flow.

"Talk to you soon, _Saitou_-kun. For now I'm going to have fun with my little toy." Aiko snapped the phone shut after letting him here the sound of Haruka screaming.

-x

_Moments Earlier_

"There's still the possibility that Aiko has nothing to do with Haruka-chan's disappearance, Yakumo-kun," Ishii stated after the conversation about where Haruka could be kept had gone stalemate.

"It wouldn't make any sense, though. All the clues that Aiko is involved in this are all there," Yakumo replied in a stoic voice with his arms crossed. He did his best not to let worry or stress get the best of him, being as he wouldn't be able to function properly if he did so.

Once again, the conversation came to an abrupt standstill. Makoto and Gotou sat in front of cups of coffee that had never been touched and had long since grown cold, Ishii fidgeted with concern, and Yakumo stared at his cell phone that had been placed in the middle of the table, although he hadn't received one call from the person he desired to speak with most.

Just as he rested his chin atop his folded hands, Yakumo's cell phone began to ring. Every occupant in the room jumped. Yakumo's eyes widened and he opened it. As he regarded the screen, he was unable to do more than stare at the words that flashed across it.

_Incoming Call: Ozawa Haruka_

"Yakumo, answer it. It's been set to record the conversation," Gotou told him sternly.

Yakumo pressed the talk button and held it to his ear. "Haruka, where are you?" He demanded and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. He tried his best to keep his voice somewhat similar to what Haruka was used to hearing in attempt to keep the girl as calm as possible.

_"Yakumo-kun-"_

Before he could work up any set emotion at hearing Haruka's voice that confirmed she was alive, another's replaced hers. _"Hello, Saitou-kun,"_

Yakumo's insides chilled. He knew that voice. A meager breath hitched inside Yakumo's throat. "Aiko." So many revelations were laid in front of him: Aiko had Haruka. Haruka was absolutely terrified.

"_Long time no speak. How've you been?"_ Aiko asked him in a tone that oozed with sociability. Yakumo narrowed his eyes and his grip tightened around his phone.

"Tell me where Haruka is," Yakumo ordered, unable to keep a small fragment of concern for Haruka's well being out of his voice.

_"Hmm, you're not quite as worked up as I thought you'd be. Going to have to fix that…"_ Aiko told him instead, which reasonably pissed Yakumo off to say the least.

"I refuse to play games with you. Tell me where she is. Right. Now."

_"Ah, that's a bit better. All in good time, Saitou. Haruka's fine for now. I'm taking _excellent_ care of her."_

From the other end, he could hear what sounded like a whimper which had to emanate from no one other than Haruka. Yakumo forced himself to breath. _Stay calm. For her,_ he told himself firmly. _Tell her something she needs to hear._

"Haruka, don't listen to a word she says. She's trying to manipulate-"

"_Yakumo, how rude or you. Are you suggesting that_ I'm _the liar?"_ Aiko cut in before he could finish his sentence. _"After all the lies you fed me…" _The edge that had taken to her voice made Yakumo feel all the more anxious about the situation. Aiko meant business. She was going to stop at nothing to get what she wanted.

"Why are you doing this?" Yakumo asked at last. He hated how tired his voice sounded, but he couldn't do anything about it.

"_Oh, many reasons. All of which you know. For now, I'm just going to let you worry about your little kitten here. Worry in silence until you can take it no longer. Wonder in horror about what I'm doing to her. Suffer endlessly not knowing where she is until days of sleep are lost. Then, we'll talk again."_

She was going to hang up, Yakumo realized with a jolt. _No. I have to keep her on the line. I can't let her go without knowing where she is. I can't._

There was a small commotion from the other end.

"If you even-"

"_Talk to you soon,_ Saitou_-kun. For now I'm going to have fun with my little toy."_

Haruka began to scream horrifically for the other end of the line. The sound of it pierced through Yakumo's body, causing him to freeze in place. Seconds later, the call ended.

…

The line had long since been dead. Still, Yakumo couldn't bring himself to let the phone drop from his ear. He stared directly ahead with his mouth slightly agape. Haruka's scream still resounded over and over inside of his head. His hand began to shake. Gotou, Ishii, and Makoto could only stare at him in stunned silence, although they were only able to hear Yakumo's side of the discussion.

"What happened?" Makoto asked at last.

"Yakumo, hand me the phone. I need to listen to the call playback."

Yakumo wordlessly obliged and spread his hand across his mouth.

Gotou set up the needed equipment on Yakumo's phone and replayed the call. Makoto and Ishii both covered their mouths in horror as they listened. Gotou scribbled notes messily across a piece of paper. It came time for Haruka's scream and Yakumo braced himself, but it did little good. It still cut through him like a knife.

"She wants revenge because I was unable to help her," Yakumo mumbled almost inaudibly with his hand now spread across his right eye.

Finally, Gotou spoke up after reviewing his notes. "By the way her voice carries, it sounds to me like they're inside a house. There's a slight echo, so it's probably empty. Maybe abandoned…?" Gotou shot Ishii a meaningful look. Instantly, Ishii stood up.

"Got it. I'll researched the abandoned houses within the area!" With that, he ran clumsily from the room.

Makoto glanced at Yakumo. "Can the spirit actually harm Haruka?" She asked in a meek voice. Yakumo's eyes flashed open, though he didn't meet the woman's worried gaze.

"She has a compliant body now, so she can and she will. Aiko's going to hurt Haruka in the way she was hurt, I'm guessing." As he said this, his thoughts unwillingly drifted to a past vision of himself holding the newspaper that announced Aiko's suicide by setting her home on fire.

Yakumo grunted softly and left the room.

-x

Aiko grabbed Haruka roughly by the front of her shirt and practically dragged her along as she walked determinedly into the hallway. Aiko stopped in front of a closed door and kicked it open, proceeding to haul Haruka to her feet and throw her inside the empty room. Aiko stepped in and closed the door behind her. She approached Haruka with the knife and she backed away, trying to get as far away from the insane woman as possible.

_If she's going to kill me, now would be a good a time as any_, Haruka thought fearfully. _I have to distract her. I have to do something!_

Aiko was already in front of her and Haruka clenched her eyes shut. However, instead of imbedding the blade into her body, Aiko grabbed her by the wrist and slit through the rope that bound her arms together. Haruka gasped in both shock and relief and she rubbed at her blistered and raw wrists and rolled her shoulders, trying to loosen the stiff muscles in her shoulders.

"The ghost that assaulted me always enjoyed making me cut into my own face and bruise my body," Aiko began in a bitter voice. "So … how shall we start with you? Shall we start to mar that beautiful face of yours?"

Dread once again drifted back to Haruka's conscious state of mind and she stopped trying to console her pain and instead focused on Aiko, who began to approach her. Aiko slid her knife into her back pocket and grabbed Haruka by the collar for a second time. Haruka did her best to brace herself for whatever was coming.

"Look at me!" Aiko screeched. Haruka reluctantly opened her eyes. With her free hand, Aiko pointed to the bloody gash underneath her own eye. "See this? This was that ghost's trademark. He loved my eyes and always liked to threaten me with what they would look like out of my head! He drank in my fear and always stopped just before he could do any damage. Then he would slide the blade downward." Aiko reclaimed her knife and touched the skin just under Haruka's eye with it. Haruka prayed that Aiko wouldn't cut her, but stinging, agonizing pain soon followed. Aiko pressed hard on the blade as she cut downward and Haruka could feel her own hot blood spilling down her face. Salty tears began to cascade down her cheeks which stung her fresh wound.

After what seemed like an endless eternity, Aiko replaced the knife back into her pocket. "Oh? What's this?"

Haruka opened her eyes and noticed Aiko holding the red gem of Yakumo's mother's necklace. Haruka wanted to scream at her not to touch it, but she hadn't the strength. The wall she was pressed against was the only thing keeping her standing.

"Hm. Funny, I've never seen Yakumo without it. Why did he give it to you?" Aiko demanded venomously.

Haruka took in a weary breath. "He … asked me to … take care of it." She slumped slightly as her knees and ankles struggled to carry her weight.

Aiko grit her teeth. "But I loved him! I _loved_ him! Why would he choose you?" In a fit of blind rage, Aiko yanked the necklace from around Haruka's throat. The force of it caused Haruka to fall painfully to the ground, rendering her unable to make another move. Her eyes locked on Aiko as she tied the necklace around her own neck and smirked down at Haruka.

"It's only a matter of time before he casts you aside as well." With that being said, Aiko left the room and locked the door behind her.

Haruka was finally left alone to succumb to her tears as well as her utter devastation. After her terrifying ordeal that was still long from over, Haruka's stomach still managed to growl excruciatingly at her from the lack of food. She curled up into a tight ball and, just before she gave in to the darkness of hunger, exhaustion, unconsciousness, or of a mixture of them all, she thought: _Yakumo-kun … Please…_

-x

**A/N:** Thank you so much for your awesome feedback!

Aiko wasn't lying about what she told Haruka, although she did twist the facts a bit when she said he left without helping her. Incase you were wondering why Yakumo didn't tell Gotou about his "relationship" with Aiko, it was simply because he didn't want to revisit the pain of thinking about it.

Soon, I'm going to write a 'Psychic Detective Yakumo' One-Shot about the episode where he is captured and Haruka saves him. It's going to be about what happened if he got shot by Nanase in attempt to protect Haruka. ;)

_**!IMPORTANT!**_, at the end of every story I write is a FAQ page, so please gather some questions you want to ask me about this story! You can leave them in a review or PM me and I will answer it on the FAQ page!

~Moon

-x


	4. Chapter 4: Eruption of Flames: Regret

Only Human

Psychic Detective Yakumo

**Chapter Four:** Eruption of Flames ~_Regret_~

_Two Weeks Later_

Yakumo Saitou was never one to crack under pressure. He refused to let the horrors of devastation and emotional strain effect the way he went about his everyday life and control him to the point of uselessness on his part. Unfortunately, even he, being the strong, emotional boulder of a person that he was, struggled with trying to maintain this, despite the fact that it was undoubtedly a façade to try and convince anyone who minded that he was indifferent to the entire situation. Needless to say, these past two weeks without a single breath of a word from Haruka or her devious captor had taken an immense toll on him, both physically and mentally. Sleep had successfully evaded him for nearly the entire duration of the silent days as he often stayed awake pondering where she was and if she was being hurt, which left him with more unneeded images in his head as well as a doubled amount of unanswered questions that usually resulted in him acting more cranky and reclusive than usual. In a feeble effort to ail his stressed being, he had gone home to his uncle in cousin, which did little, if not made matters worse.

Both his cousin and his uncle had tried to offer him support, to which Yakumo stubbornly insisted he didn't need. But his uncle annoyingly saw right through him, like he usually did. Ishin identified the guilt that emanated off of Yakumo and told him that blaming himself for this ill-fated endeavor would not make finding Haruka any easier, nor would it help her well being. He also stated that she would be sad to see him in this state. As this was said, Yakumo left his uncle's home and didn't return.

Today, he found himself sitting back in the club room in attempt to return to a certain state of normalcy. Just as he was about to shut his eyes with his arms propped comfortably behind his head in hopes of catching a few hours of well-needed sleep, he caught himself staring at the club-room door, waiting for a certain airheaded pinkette to walk right through and greet him in an overly obnoxious and irritating voice that was usually followed with some kind of problem that she needed him to resolve.

As soon as the thought of her popped into his mind, he sincerely regretted it. Not long after he envisioned her bursting into the room with the usually bright smile on her face, the horrifying reverberation of her bloodcurdling scream replayed in an unbearable loop in his head. Yakumo squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, willing the shrill sound to leave him at peace. Nearly intolerable guilt that his uncle had successfully acknowledged once again trickled back into him and he clenched his hand into a quivering fist. If Haruka made it out of this alive, god forbid what he would do if she didn't, Yakumo would never be able to face her for as long as he lived. Simply knowing that it was _his_ doing that got her into this mess was enough to make him believe that _he_ was the one to cause that maddening scream of terror to erupt from her with his own hands. This sudden revelation made him want to bury another box cutter into his damned, cursed eye.

Haruka was a strong girl, Yakumo had to admit. She kept herself calm in situations that would have made any other person crack. She always found a smile of reassurance as well, when she should be crying her eyes out and complaining, like a normal person would. Hell, she stayed strong for him when he approached a total breakage point. So what could possibly have been done to her to make her scream in such a way? Yakumo could think of only one thing: anguish. He had never seen her suffer from any sort of physical pain in person, nor did he want to, so it was unbeknownst to him how she would react to that kind of torture. What Aiko could be doing to her at this very moment was almost too much for Yakumo to bear even thinking.

_Yakumo-kun, why aren't you helping me? Why? I came for you when you were in danger…Where are you? There's so much pain …_

Yakumo pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes and let out a sharp sigh. "Now I'm imagining her voice…" Yakumo mumbled to himself as a wave of shame washed up inside of him again. "As if seeing the dead isn't awful enough," he added to himself. Yes, these two weeks had been worse than hell for him.

The sudden, shrill sound of Yakumo's cell phone jolted him out of his brooding and, without wasting another second, he picked it up and looked at the screen.

_Incoming Call: Detective Gotou_

Yakumo answered the call on instant, fearing the worst possible news. _They found her body. We were too late._

"What is it?" Yakumo answered harshly, trying to push those evil thoughts out of his head.

_"Yakumo … Haruka's mother is on her way down here. I think you should be here when she arrives."_

"I can't think of any reason why she would want to see me unless she wants to strangle the person who caused her daughter's disappearance," Yakumo said darkly, feigning sarcasm.

Gotou exhaled sharply from the other end. "_Now is not the time for your ignorance. Just get your lazy ass down here, ok?"_

Yakumo ran his hand through his hair, feeling his tension ease slightly. "Was there any news?" Yakumo reluctantly asked the burly detective, ignoring the dejecting quip that he had shot at him just a second ago.

Gotou paused for a moment, causing Yakumo's pulse to quicken. _"No. Nothing yet."_

"I'll be there," Yakumo replied smartly and then snapped his phone shut.

_This won't be good,_ Yakumo thought to himself as he eased himself off of his couch and out of the club room.

…

Yakumo arrived at the detective's office some time before Keiko, Haruka's mother, did. A depleted-looking Ishii sat before a group of city maps, all tagged with small notes in his messy scrawl.

_He's still investigating the empty houses around here,_ Yakumo concluded before looking toward Gotou, who appeared quite exhausted as well.

"Who spoke with Haruka's mother?" Yakumo asked with his hands in his pockets. Makoto gazed at the boy with worry etched into her face.

"Yakumo-kun, you should have at least gotten some sleep…" she told him, which earned her a dark glare from the normally indifferent Yakumo. Gotou jabbed her with his elbow to keep her from talking again.

"The police chief contacted her this morning. She wanted Keiko to know of the situation before this story got leaked to the media." Gotou shot Makoto a look, who recoiled guiltily.

"I already swore I wouldn't say anything, but he doesn't trust me," Makoto interjected in her own defense as she crossed her arms uneasily. The two men ignored her and Yakumo gestured toward the maps under Ishii's arms.

"Any luck?" He questioned in a stoic voice even though he had already figured out the answer for himself.

At this, Ishii glanced up and rubbed at the darkness under his eyes behind his glasses. "Unfortunately, no. All the houses we've investigated thus far haven't any sign of life. They've been unoccupied for years, it seems. But there are still plenty of houses that remain to be investigated. But … it could take a while."

Yakumo nodded once at this news, which failed to come as a shock to him. Before he could come up with another question that he already knew the answer to, a male police officer entered the room.

"Detective Gotou-san, a woman is here. She wishes to speak with you."

_That's most likely Haruka's mother …_ Yakumo thought with a sigh. The last thing he wanted was to face Haruka's mother after all that had happened.

Gotou looked up at Yakumo as if he sensed his thoughts. Yakumo nodded at him.

"Bring her in," Gotou ordered brusquely.

A second later, a tear-faced and sleep deprived Keiko Ozawa timidly entered the room. She bowed at Gotou. "I thank you for all the work you've done."

Gotou merely nodded once at her, feeling slightly awkward at receiving such praise. Keiko turned and noticed Yakumo. A sad, but soft smile spread across her lips. She bowed at him as well. "It's unfortunate that our second meeting is under such a circumstance. From what I've been told, you've been working just as hard to find my daughter as the detectives here, am I right?"

Yakumo clenched his hands around his crossed arms and turned his gaze away from the woman that resembled Haruka too much for his own liking. "Hardly," he mumbled.

Keiko turned her attention back to the detective, suddenly very serious. "If you can give me anything… anything at all that has to do with my daughter's whereabouts … please let me hear it," she said in a sturdy voice with her arms firmly pressed against her sides.

Yakumo looked on at her, the woman that had saved his own mother many years ago, and he instantly saw where Haruka got her inner strength from. Keiko was obviously distressed, but she put on a strong and resilient front, eager to learn anything she could about her daughter. After a long moment of silence passed between the group, Gotou finally stood and approached the audio recorder that had recorded the last phone call between Yakumo and Aiko. His finger hovered over the _play_ button.

"You may want to sit down for this," he suggested morosely.

Keiko waved off his offer, but gripped the back of the chair presented to her instead as she braced herself for whatever was to come. As Gotou depressed the _play_ button and the conversation started to play back, Yakumo managed to drown it out indifferently until the dreaded scream came, which never failed to cut through him like all too sharp knife. As the recording clicked to a stop, Keiko had been forced to take a seat as her legs had failed to hold her weight. The color had drained from her face once she heard the scream that came from her daughter, emitting loudly from the speakers. She let out a breath as she tried to gain coherent thoughts.

"Are you alright, Ozawa-san?" Makoto asked the ashen woman, who was now seated opposite her.

Keiko nodded shakily and audibly swallowed. "Yes, I'm alright. It's just a lot to take in..." The woman turned to Yakumo, who was disturbed by the scream as well.

"Do you think there's a possibility that she's still alive…?"

Yakumo closed his eyes at the sudden bluntness of her question. "I don't doubt the fact that Haruka is alive. The person … or _entity_, rather … is doing this to torture me... I assure you, she's going to keep Haruka alive until she gets what she wants."

"_Worry in silence until you can take it no longer. Wonder in horror about what I'm doing to her. Suffer endlessly not knowing where she is until days of sleep are lost. Then, we'll talk again."_

Aiko's repeated words resonated painfully within each occupant of the room.

Regrettably, her advice had been taken.

-x

Haruka moved as far away from the door as possible when she heard Aiko's heels pounding against the carpet, echoing closer and closer to the room Haruka had been forced into. Just as her feet cleared the path of the door, it burst open, revealing a very arrogant looking Aiko in the doorway. She strode in and grabbed Haruka by the hair, hauling her painfully to her feet.

Haruka was led out of the room and into the bathroom, which Haruka had become accustomed with these past few days. Aiko tramped inside with Haruka in tow. She pushed her in front of the mirror, still holding her by the hair. Haruka grasped the edge of the sink in order to support herself. The lack of nutrition as well as little to no sleep left her weak and shaky, so standing was quite difficult for her.

"Like what you see?" Aiko asked condescendingly, a cold smirk on her face.

Haruka barely recognized the face in the mirror. The girl staring back at her was a mere ghost of her former self, her eyes being rather lackluster and her skin had taken on an ashen tone. Haruka barely paid attention to that, though. All she could see was the blood and the wounds on her face and neck. Her cheek was still welted and swollen. The cut that adorned her opposite cheek was long and jagged, and had just barely scabbed over. The one that marred her face underneath her eye was just as gruesome. Dark yellow and blue bruises feathered across Haruka's neck where Aiko had attempted to strangle her two weeks ago. Stray flakes of blood had dried into her limp hair as well, created a morbid hue within the strands. She was filthy as well; her face was smeared with dirt and leftover makeup, which made the tear-tracks very much visible.

Haruka looked away from her reflection and down into the dirt encrusted porcelain of the sink. "I … I can't look," Haruka sobbed, feeling hot tears cascade down her cheeks once again.

Aiko _tsk_ed derisively. "You've healed too much. Hmm, looks like I have to fix that." Aiko smacked Haruka across the face with an open palm, causing the wound on her cheek to rip open and bleed profusely. Haruka moaned in pain, feeling her sore throat constrict. She cupped a quivering hand over the aching side of her face and felt her own blood run down her cheek and drip onto her already stained shirt.

"There, much better," Aiko hissed, still grinning. "Now _there's_ a face Saitou-kun will never be able to forget." She seized Haruka by the hair once again and all but dragged her from the room.

She lazily pushed Haruka down onto the grimy couch and ventured out to the kitchen, humming cheerily to herself. Haruka couldn't quell her shivering frame nor could she suppress the tiny gasps of pain that slipped from between her lips. Her scalp screamed at her and she tentatively touched the back of her head, trying to ease the pain in any way she could. Finally, the agony in her body eased into a tingling, numbing sensation and Haruka sighed in relief. She knew that the numbing sensation was not necessarily a good sign, but she couldn't help but be glad that the pain had faded, even if the effect was only temporary.

A dull clang resounded from within the kitchen and Haruka turned her attention back to her captor, who knelt before the ancient-looking stove that was the only thing in the kitchen besides the sink. Beside her were four red gallons of gasoline and within seconds after Aiko took to her feet, the smell of putrid gas invaded Haruka's nostrils.

Haruka's insides clenched with fear and her eyes widened. _What … what is she doing…?_

Aiko faced Haruka with a wicked grin and bent over to grab on of the red gallons. She lifted it off the ground and stuffed it into the dark oven, closing the door behind it. She removed the cap of the second one and began to pour the gasoline around her. Once it was emptied, Aiko snatched up another gallon and ventured around the house as she emptied the rancid smelling liquid on everything she came in contact with. After she had finished with the third gallon, the emptied half of the fourth in the living room around Haruka's feet.

_She's … she's going to blow this place up!_ Haruka realized fearfully. She eyed the front door just a few feet from her and weighed her chances of getting out and making a run for it before Aiko could catch her. She had to admit, the odds were not in her favor, but she had to at least try.

A small click pried Haruka out of her thoughts and she looked back at Aiko, who had a silver gun aimed right at her forehead. Haruka bit back her gasp and held herself absolutely still as she eyed Aiko's finger on the trigger that was slowly inching back.

"If you try to run, I won't think twice about blowing your head off," Aiko threatened in an icy voice, her eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.

Haruka swallowed hard and forced herself to nod at the psychotic woman. "I … I understand."

Aiko barked out a single laugh and lowered her gun, which she replaced inside her coat pocket. When she pulled her hand back out, she held a small box of wooden matches and shook them at the terrified girl.

"How does it feel to know that you will die today, Ozawa Haruka?" Aiko asked in a dark voice as she pulled out a match and struck it across the matchbook. It didn't even spark and Haruka let out a shaky breath, her body quivering all the more fiercely.

Haruka shook her hair out of her face and met Aiko's evil gaze fearlessly. "I don't care about myself … but you must tell me what you plan to do to Yakumo-kun … after you do…"

Aiko raised a dark eyebrow at her. "I'm not going to kill him, if that's what you're asking. No … death would be too kind to him after I finish with you. I will be satisfied enough with watching him internally perish after your heart stops beating." Aiko paused and licked her pale lips. "Now I think it's time to give the cat the bait and lure him here…"

-x

After what seemed like a thousand years to Yakumo and the others, the long awaited phone call finally came. Yakumo picked it up and answered it before it had even finished its first ring.

"Haruka!" He called into the receiver, overcome by the astonishment of seeing her name flash across the screen of his phone.

Regrettably, it was not her voice that answered him, but a sinister and distinctly female laugh. _"Hello again, _Saitou_-kun. What has it been, two weeks now? Oh, you must be worried sick. How have you been holding up?" _Said Aiko, her voice dripping with fake affability toward him.

Yakumo was sick of her games by now and he was far too angered to let her get under his skin. "You will tell me where she is," he demanded. Everyone else in the room grew deadly silent as they strained to hear the conversation, even though Yakumo had the call on speaker.

_"Hmm … I see you took my advice. Good boy."_ Aiko sighed dramatically. _"Well, I guess I've had my fun. I can return your girl to you now."_

Yakumo didn't believe for one second that Aiko's words were sincere, but he refrained from voicing his doubts. "Where. Tell me where."

Gotou and Ishii both scrambled for a piece of paper and a writing instrument as soon as the words left Yakumo's mouth. Without further ado, Aiko rattled off a lengthy address rather calmly. Yakumo's hand shook slightly as he pressed the phone against his ear. He desperately yearned to hear Haruka's voice simply to be reassured that she was in fact alive and he wouldn't be embarking on a wild goose chase that ended with a trap.

_"Oh, and Saitou … you can bring as many of your detective friends as you wish, but keep in mind that some bullets hurt worse than others."_ With that, the line went dead.

"Ishii, check that address. Does it match any of the homes on your map?" Gotou stipulated as soon as Yakumo set the phone down.

Ishii frantically poured over his set of maps and then pointed to one. "Yes, this one here! It's about fifteen miles from where we are now … We can reach it in less than half an hour!"

The office buzzed with the excitement of the sudden breakthrough of fresh information. Gotou went into complete army-like control as he barked out orders and commands for each individual, organizing a lavish search party that included the finest detectives and officers the city had to offer. Ishii was on the phone with the police officials from the town Haruka was being held in, including them in the search as well. Within ten minutes, the party was prepared and on their way out the door.

Yakumo eagerly followed suit, but was stopped by Haruka's mother, who was being forced to stay behind for her own safety.

"I trust you to bring my daughter home to me," she told him sternly, her face pinched with emotion.

Yakumo nodded at the woman. "I don't plan on returning without your daughter in my possession, Ozawa-san," Yakumo replied.

Keiko Ozawa watched the serious boy exit the building and leave with the rest of the men and hugged herself, finally letting tears and vocal sobs to escape her. Despite Yakumo's promise, she had the sinking feeling that her remaining daughter would be ripped from her just as easily as her first.

…

Yakumo rode in the same car as Gotou. Between them was a stifling silence that was just waiting to be broken.

"_You can bring as many of your detective friends as you wish, but keep in mind that some bullets hurt worse than others."_

Yakumo couldn't help but wonder what Aiko's words had entailed. Was she threatening Haruka's life? No doubt it had something to do with how Yakumo approached the situation when they arrived. Would Aiko attempt to kill them all?

"Gotou-san…" Yakumo began, successfully gaining the detective's attention. "When we arrive … I want to be the one to get Haruka back."

"What, are you crazy?" Gotou exclaimed, his hands furiously gripping the steering wheel. "And risk being killed? Not on my life."

Yakumo clenched his fist. "If I don't do this myself … I have the feeling Aiko will take matters into her own hands and make sure that none of us leave alive."

Gotou grit his teeth as he weighed his options. Finally, he was forced to agree to Yakumo's bargain, no matter how suicidal it might have been. "If you die, I'm personally going to kill you," Gotou threatened.

…

Just before nightfall crept upon them, Haruka's retrieval party arrived at the address of the small home that lurked just in front of an engulfing forest. The house was set at the base of a steep hill that made it impossible to see until they stood atop the hill. There wasn't another house around for miles, which made this place the perfect spot to hold a hostage against her will with no one to hear her screams.

The vans that held the officers and detectives parked a good distance away from the house and stayed absolutely quiet. Gotou strictly relayed Yakumo's instructions, which the men were forced to obey. Finally, Gotou approached Yakumo, who was leaning against the van with his hands in his pockets and his head downcast.

"Yakumo-kun … Take this." Gotou slipped a small black pistol into Yakumo's breast pocket. "Be careful. Your uncle hates me enough as it is, so don't end up dead. And remember, I'm going to kill you if you die."

Yakumo chuckled softly and pushed himself away from the van. "Your lack of faith in me is heartbreaking, Gotou-san. As if I can die that easily." Yakumo's eyes slid down toward the house just as the sun firmly set, casting the area around him with darkness.

Yakumo braced himself for what he was about to do and walked down the hill toward the house. Just as he was out of the line of vision of the team and stepped on the lawn, the front door cracked open. Yakumo immediately halted movement and watched as the dark figures of two people emerged. Yakumo instantly tensed when his eyes focused.

A malicious looking Aiko who had possession of Kuroyuki's body walked toward him with Haruka in tow, a knife pressed dangerously against her throat. Yakumo hissed in sharp breath when he saw the gruesome and raw wounds adorning Haruka's pallid skin, but he forced himself to swallow his anger and appear just as Haruka was used to seeing: indifferent.

"Saitou-kun… You've grown taller," Aiko said in greeting, stopping a good ten feet in front of him. "As handsome as ever, I see. Don't you agree, Haruka-chan?" Aiko pressed her face close to Haruka's, causing the girl to shy away in fear.

"I'm here now. You can let her go," Yakumo urged, feeling a bit of biting rage trickle up into his throat like bitter bile.

Aiko's dodgy, narrowed eyes slid back to Yakumo. Her mouth tightened and she pressed the blade ever so tightly against Haruka's neck, causing a thin line of blood to appear. Aiko lips curled upward into one of the most malevolent grins Yakumo had ever seen.

Yakumo swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, Aiko-san. I tried to help you back then. I wanted to help you. I … I failed you, and I'm sorry. It's something I've never forgiven myself for."

Aiko gasped softly, visibly taken aback at his unexpected words. Her grip on Haruka's body slackened somewhat.

Yakumo clenched his eyes shut, realizing that what he was about to say could tip the scale entirely. "But I cannot forgive you." Without wasting a second, he pulled the small gun from his pocket and aimed unflinchingly at Aiko.

Yakumo had never shot a gun before, nor did he ever imagine that he would one day have to. But none of that mattered now. All he could think of was that the only person he actually cared about failing was in the arms of a psychotic ghost that had taken possession of someone's body. He knew he could never be forgiven for the events the led up to Haruka being dragged into this mess, but at least he would be able to bring her home safely. Even if it meant destroying the life of the girl that Aiko had so strongly taken hold of. He would do whatever it took.

"You can't live on if your vassal dies," Yakumo continued, his finger poised. "Your soul will dissipate as soon as Kuroyuki dies." Yakumo looked over at Haruka, who stared right back at him with clear, unclouded eyes. He didn't want her to see this, nor did he want her to see him reduced to this, but suddenly he had no choice. Yakumo cocked the gun and began to pull back on the trigger.

Aiko's face hardened and she began to laugh darkly. "I don't think you get it, Yakumo," Aiko said, addressing him by his first name for the first time. "You don't understand. And now I don't think you ever will."

Before Yakumo had a chance to pull the trigger and end it once and for all, Aiko's spirit passed out of Kuroyuki's body and invaded Haruka's. Kuroyuki's body fell to the ground into unconsciousness and Haruka's head snapped backward; her legs sagged and her body collapsed to the ground.

"No!" Yakumo cried out and ran forward, even though he was too late to stop it. Haruka let out another ear-piercing scream as her body writhed and thrashed about on the lawn. He knelt next to the pink-haired girl and saw how hard Aiko fought Haruka's own spirit for her body. Finally, all movement ceased and Yakumo backed away, knowing that the transition was complete.

Aiko had succeeded.

The bright red aura of Aiko's true form rooted onto Haruka's body. She sneered at Yakumo before her form slipped into Haruka's body, gaining control over her. Using Haruka as her knew vessel, Aiko unsteadily got to her feet and faced Yakumo. Haruka's eyes were now so cold and heartless that Yakumo could barely stand to look at them. "I can't see you shooting and killing anyone in cold blood, Saitou-kun. Even though you were most likely bluffing, I can't pass on yet. So this is the best precaution. You will shoot yourself before you can even point that gun at Haruka-chan. I have yet to accomplish my dearest wish," Aiko said with Haruka's voice. Hearing Haruka sound so evil and distorted sent chills up Yakumo's spine.

Yakumo dropped the pistol at his feet, admitting defeat. Aiko was right. He wouldn't hurt Haruka. Still, he had to try and stop her. He had to say something, anything. "Haruka's body is unwilling. Even now, she's trying to reject your soul, which will lead to her death. You will die soon after."

Aiko laughed breathily and shook her head. "I'm afraid your precious girl will be dead long before that happens." Aiko shakily bent down and pulled something from Kuroyuki's coat pocket. A long, silver gun. Aiko began to shudder and harsh sobs erupted from her. In a flash, she pointed the gun directly at Yakumo with tears cascading down her cheeks. "Why don't you get it …? I loved you! And I _still _love you! Why…?"

Suddenly, Yakumo remembered the times Aiko spent by his side while she was alive and untainted by the evils of the supernatural world. He remembered her kind smile and her shy demeanor. He still remembered the taste of her chaste mouth on his own when she had so timidly kissed him. As he recalled this, he realized that that Aiko had died when that ghost started taking over her.

"No. You don't." Yakumo looked directly into Haruka's eyes, seeing Aiko reflected within them. "That ghost that enjoyed invading your body left remnants of himself each time he possessed you. Those fragments seeped into your soul and corrupted you into a ruthless being. When you took your life, that man's ghost latched onto you as a last resort and you were unable to leave this earth until you found someone to blame for your strife. And that person was me, even though you knew deep down that I was not at fault."

Aiko's gun began to shake violently in her hands. She clamped her eyes shut tightly, causing more tears to roll down her cheeks. "Shut up … shut up…!"

Yakumo paused. Thinking that he finally had the upper hand in the situation. "Do you wish to kill me now, Aiko?" He whispered.

Aiko's sobs quieted and a smirk danced across her lips. "If I planned on shooting you, I would have done so before I took my own life, you idiot." Aiko straightened her posture and once again pointed the gun at Yakumo, completely unfazed by his words.

Yakumo cursed inwardly.

Aiko bent over and grabbed Kuroyuki's unconscious body by the collar and proceeded to aim the gun against Haruka's temple. The ghost of a leer resided on her lips as she began to back up toward the house, her finger on the trigger.

"Don't do this," Yakumo urged desperately, suddenly finding himself out of options. His hands began to tremble in frustration as he watched them creep closer and closer to the door.

"Finally. I can see your utter devastation burning within you. You can't stand the thought of losing her, yet you are completely helpless to stopping me."

"You'll die the second she does," Yakumo said as a last resort, even though that card had already been pulled.

Aiko's face contorted with rage and frustration. She cried out and shot Haruka in the arm. "I don't care, don't you see? It's never mattered. I'm already dead. Her death is the only thing that matters now."

Yakumo watched in horror as blood blossomed on Haruka's shirt and flowed freely down her arm. _No. This can't happen._

Aiko was a step away from the door. "If you attempt to play hero and save her, I will put another bullet in her, in a place that she won't ever heal from." Suddenly, Haruka's body began to slump slightly. Aiko struggled to hold her control over her, which was rapidly slipping.

"That hurt," she hissed. She once again placed the barrel of the gun against her temple before disappearing into the house. Yakumo remained frozen in place, unable to think one clear, rational thought save for _'No'_.

-x

Aiko began to breathe quite laboriously as she struggled to keep her soul rooted inside Haruka. _Dammit. I shouldn't have shot her. _

Aiko dumped Kuroyuki's body onto the couch and set the remaining gallon of gasoline on top of her. By now, the house reeked with the smell of gas so badly that she had a hard time getting air into her lungs. She sat on the gas-soaked floor and leaned against the couch, tightly gripping the book of matches in her quivering hand. Her vise grip on Haruka was slipping inch by inch after every second that passed.

Haruka fought inside herself, trying to regain possession of her body. She tried to resist against Aiko as she forced her to pull out a wooden match and strike it against the box.

No flame, just a spark.

Cursing, Aiko tried once again.

A single tear streaked down Haruka's messy face. _No_, she thought. _I don't want to die. _

As Aiko poised the match to strike it once again, her control slackened immensely, but Aiko instantly attached herself to the girl once again. Haruka gasped as the pain of her bullet wound flooded through her.

_Everything hurts … but … my heart is aching so brutally that I might die from it. It hurts too much to … to know I can never tell Yakumo … that I love him. I've lost my chance now. He's never going to know…_

The match came down on the box for the last time, and this time, it lit. Aiko's grip fell away from Haruka's body and she faded.

_I have control again! But … I can't -! _

The flooding feeling of having her own body in her possession again caused Haruka to drop the match she held. Her eyes went wide as she gasped, watching almost in slow motion as the small, bright flame fell to the gasoline soaked carpet.

Everything was engulfed in flames.

-x

**A/N:** I originally planned to make this the last chapter of the story, but it turned out to be longer than I thought so now I will split it into another chapter. Thank you so much for your amazing reviews! I'm astounded and heart-warmed!

~Moon

-x


	5. Chapter 5: Wake of Devastation: Failure

Only Human

Psychic Detective Yakumo

**Chapter Five:** Wake of Devastation ~_Failure_~

Haruka felt sheer terror corrupt her when she lost her grip on the match and watched it fall to the gasoline soaked ground. Just as it fell, and the flame caught the highly flammable liquid, she sprung into action. Icy adrenaline spiked through her legs as she forced herself to stand and run. Fire engulfed everything in her path and she held her good arm in front of her face, trying to ward off the flames that brutally berated against her. A blazing inferno licked at her ankles as she ran for the hallway, desperately searching for a way out. The heat of the flames was nearly enough to send her into submission, but her body didn't let her stop moving. Utter fear for her life butted out the agony in her battered body, allowing her to function semi-properly for the time being.

She fled to the end of the hallway, hoping like hell that there was an exit to the house. If not, she would be trapped by a wall of fire that was swiftly gaining on her. She slammed her full body force into the last door, frantically trying to turn the handle. Her weak arms protested against the action and the door refused to open. She could tell it wasn't locked, so something on the other side had to be blocking it.

Just then, an ear-piercing shriek sounded throughout the house and Haruka winced, knowing that Aiko's vessel had regained consciousness and the fire had claimed her. Tears sprang in Haruka's eyes as she hesitated, desperately wanting to go back and help the girl in any way she could. But by the way the woman was currently screaming, Haruka knew it was too late for her.

Her brief hesitation cost her.

The flames had caught up to Haruka by now and the entire hallway was swallowed in catastrophic flames. The ceiling had caught fire and Haruka regained her struggle against the barred door, crying out in frustration and panic. She heard a creaking noise that overshadowed the girl's screams and she looked up, seeing that a piece of the flaming ceiling was caving in on her. Haruka chocked back a scream and used the last ounce of her strength against the door. Finally, she got it to budge. Haruka nearly threw herself out of the door just as that heavy piece of ceiling came bearing down, missing her by a fraction of an inch.

Haruka couldn't bring herself to stop moving. She started to run, wishing to get as far away from that house as possible. The adrenaline that pumped through her veins began to fade out a bit and Haruka was starting to feel the brunt of her injuries. Surrounded by the night's darkness and a wall of endless trees, her legs gave out on her. She collapsed right then and there, her body refusing make another move. She rolled over and faced the clear, star-filled sky, sucking in as much fresh air as her lungs could hold.

_I'm … finally free…_

Tears of relief and happiness flooded her eyes. With her good arm, she clutched her wound, feeling her hand soak with blood. But at that moment, she couldn't care less. She was free from Aiko's grasp and finally out of that suffocating house once and for all. She had escaped with her life. As she took in a labored breath, her eyes began to slip closed. Without an ounce of fear left in her body, she let the heavy blackness overtake her.

-x

_Moments Earlier_

The startling crack of a gunshot echoed up to the anxiously awaiting group at the top of the hill, jolting each one of them into a deafening silence. Gotou abruptly turned toward the direction of the small house with a look of shock dancing across his lined face, his unlit cigarette long forgotten. He'd only left Yakumo on his own for a solid five minutes. Had someone been shot already? An icy pit lodged itself deep within his stomach.

"Was that a gunshot?" Makoto asked in horror, her bright eyes alight with the sudden alarm at hearing such a violent sound echo throughout the quiet area. Before the words were even out of her mouth, Gotou took off and dashed down the steep hill as fast as his burly legs could carry him, with Ishii hastily following suit.

The duo reached the bottom of the hill and spotted Yakumo standing before the door of the house, utterly immobile. Gotou took a breath and assessed the area, noticing that neither Aiko nor Haruka could be seen in the vicinity. _Most likely back inside the house_, Gotou concluded. The small black pistol he had given Yakumo lay a few feet away in the grass, seemingly unused.

"Yakumo! What-"

Yakumo suddenly bolted toward the door of the all too quiet house, kicking up tufts of grass as he went. Out of instinct, Gotou leapt forward and caught the boy under the arms, restraining him from taking even another step forward. Yakumo struggled against him without an ounce of hesitation, which informed the detective that he wasn't injured. Physically, at least. _Who was shot, then?_ wondered Gotou as he held Yakumo back. A sickening feeling delved deep within his chest as he realized that Haruka was most likely the one that received the bullet he had heard being shot, which meant two things: she could be dying at this very moment and that damned Aiko had a gun. If the latter was true, then there was no way he in hell he was going to let Yakumo anyway near that house until he was sure it was safe.

"Yakumo, what happened? Is Haruka alright?" Gotou prodded, desperately trying to keep the boy still and get an answer out of him.

"Let me go!" Yakumo protested with more emotion in his voice than the detective was used to hearing. He fought without resistance against Gotou's massive arms. "Aiko's possessed Haruka, and she shot her, but she's losing her grip. I have to get in there!"

His words made little sense to Gotou, but he knew one thing for sure: Yakumo wasn't getting in that house on his watch. "You can't go in there if she's armed! The last thing I need is for _you_ to end up dead due to your senselessness!" _I absolutely cannot let _two_ of them perish,_ Gotou added internally.

Yakumo wanted to ignore the detective's words, no matter how much sense they made. Still, there was no way he was going to lose another important person in his life due to his senseless mistakes. He absolutely could _not_ let Haruka die. Her safety greatly depended on him, and he couldn't fail her. Not again. Not when he owed her so much.

"Gotou-san, do you smell gas?" Ishii called out suddenly, fear very much audible in his voice.

Gotou's grip on the boy slackened somewhat at this news. Both Gotou and Yakumo froze as they sniffed the air, realizing that the putrid scent of gasoline was very much palpable. Yakumo's body went completely rigid as each of the fragments of the clues he'd been given finally fit together in a morbidly clear puzzle.

_**Senior High School student Yoshima Aiko was found dead inside what was left of her home Tuesday afternoon, which had been burned down earlier that day. Police officials suspect that she purposely set her house on fire in a form of suicide. It has been said that she doused herself with gasoline before lighting a match and setting everything on fire. Although her motives are unclear…**_

_"I'm afraid your precious girl will be dead long before that happens.," _Aiko had told him, to which Yakumo brushed off as nothing but a meager bluff.

What Yakumo had formerly suspected was to come true after all. Aiko was truly going to make him suffer through everything she had to go through, which meant she was going to kill Haruka the same way she had died. The all too disturbing image of Haruka being set fire and burning alive made Yakumo stomach churn; the little food he had forced himself to eat earlier that day threatened to come up.

Before he had a chance to perhaps stop these events, he noticed intense orange embers reflecting brightly against the window panes of the house, flickering like a dangerously livid wave of water. Yakumo and Gotou gasped, realizing a fire had been set from inside. The scent of burning gasoline filled their nostrils.

"Shit!" cursed Gotou as he threw himself into action, thinking of how quickly a house blew up once set fire. He tightened his grip around Yakumo and threw himself backward, taking Yakumo down with him. "Get down, Ishii!" commanded the detective as he covered Yakumo with his body. Ishii hastily agreed and dropped to the grass, stomach first. Yakumo lost his breath the second he felt the presence of a soul. But before he had the chance to look up and identify the spirit, the small house before them exploded into flames just before their eyes.

The wall of heat that powerfully emanated off of the house hit the men with enough impact that would have knocked them off of their feet and thrown them a great distance had they not already been lying down. Once he realized that he wasn't hurt, Yakumo wrestled his way out of Gotou's grip and got to his feet, his arm raised to protect his face from the onslaught of heat from the flames.

_Haruka…_

Not even a second before he thought her name, a piercingly blood-churning wail met his ears and etched into his brain, coming from inside the house. The scream was distinctly female, very much alive, and in the excruciating pain of being burned alive. Without thinking, he pried himself away from the detective and rushed forward, not caring about the consequences of his actions, much like he did when he jumped off of a bridge into freezing water after her. Rushing into a raging fire was no different. Not when she was involved.

"No, Yakumo!" Gotou grabbed him by the back of the shirt and furiously held him back. "It's too late now, there's nothing you can do!"

Yakumo grit his teeth as he faced the flames that were rapidly engulfing the house at a frightening pace. The screaming faded out a moment later and Yakumo was forced to cover his eyes as the front windows exploded, glass shards flying in every other direction. As soon as he looked back, he could no longer feel the presence of anything living within the home. He dropped to his knees, utterly devastated with the sudden loss that weighed heavily in his chest. His felt that his heart would drown with the guilt and unmistakable pain that coursed through him.

_I failed …again…_

…

The city's fire department arrived moments later and informed the three that they had to move away so that they could safely douse the fire. Gotou took Yakumo firmly by the shoulder and led him back up the hill, not daring to speak a word. The raw emotion on Yakumo's face told Gotou all he needed to know; nothing he could say would help now. As soon as they mounted the hill, Yakumo sharply pulled himself away from the detective's grasp and proceeded to drive his fist into the side of a van, not caring about the agonizing pain or the blood that trickled down his wrist from his newly split knuckles. He cried out in frustration and pulled his hand back moved to take another swing, but Gotou caught his wrist and spun the boy around to face him.

"Stop, you idiot! Destroying private property isn't going to help matters, is it?"

Makoto approached the two with an anguished expression residing on her youthful face. "Gotou-san do you mean…?" She trailed off, looking towards the billow of black smoke that rose from the burning house that the firefighters were so vehemently trying to stop.

Gotou released Yakumo, who slumped down and leaned against the van he had lashed out against with his head in his hands, and faced the reporter. He sadly nodded his head. "Yeah… we didn't act quickly enough."

Makoto covered her mouth with a quivering hand, stunned and saddened by the sinking turn of events. "She's gone then…? But I thought Aiko was … going to let her go…" Tears pooled in her crystal clear eyes.

Gotou put his hands in his pockets and rested himself against the same van, his weary eyes drifting down to the utterly still boy. "The woman obviously lied to draw us here. As for the situation, we can't know for sure if she's actually … gone," Gotou began, careful not to say that word _dead _in front of Yakumo, who was liable to snap again at any given moment. His eyes never left Yakumo as he spoke. "Until a body is identified, it's still possible that she's alive." _Even though those odds aren't so good right now,_ he reluctantly added to himself. Yakumo finally looked up at the detective, appearing just as fragile and broken as he did more than twenty years ago, when his mother tried to take his life with her own hands. He narrowed his eyes at Gotou as if he were trying to find even a fragment of hope within his gruff words.

_God, she just put him back together. If she's really dead, he's never going to forgive himself,_ Gotou thought. He closed his eyes and turned away from the boy, unable to look at him for a second longer.

"I couldn't feel the presence of anything _living_ in that house," Yakumo finally mumbled, barely audible, his voice hard and cynical. Gotou narrowed his eyes at the boy, wanting to wring his neck for such negativity, even though Yakumo probably knew better than most about the matters of the living and the dead.

"Detective Gotou-san," interrupted a rather slim man dressed in a police uniform, wearing a seriously grim expression. Gotou swallowed hard and cleared his throat.

"Yes, what is it?"

The police officer paused a moment before speaking, his eyes shifting back and forth from Gotou to the others in his presence, as if he were unwilling to say whatever he needed in front of such an audience. "A body has been found inside the house, sir. I was told to report anything that was found to you once I received it."

Gotou exhaled, feeling any shred of hope he had for Haruka to be alive vanish. He swallowed hard, trying to find his voice. "The body is…?"

"A female, sir," finished the officer. "She appeared to be around twenty to thirty years of age, but it's hard to know for sure. Once the forensics team arrives, we will know more. You can enter the home then."

Gotou nodded at him, feeling his insides drop out of his body. "Thank you. Return to your post," he commanded. Once he was out of sight, Gotou chanced a quick glance at Yakumo, who was staring straight ahead, a look of horror fresh on his face, all color gone. His eyebrows pulled together as he assessed the officer's words.

"Only one body was found…?" Yakumo asked with a voice that failed to contain even an ounce of the emotion that his haunted face clearly showed. His face hardened as a dark look passed over him. After a long moment, he took to his feet and faced the detective before him. "Gotou-san, I want to see the body."

Gotou swallowed hard, visibly disturbed by the boy's sudden words. "I can't allow you to do such a -"

"Someone has to identify a body, right?"

Gotou sucked in a ragged breath, trying not to let the downright malevolent vibes Yakumo was giving off get to him. "That's usually … left to the family members," Gotou replied.

Yakumo shook his head. "I promised her I'd bring her daughter back to her." Yakumo began. "I'd rather be the one to identify Haruka to save that woman further grief. She deserves to remember her happily, if she really is-" he cut himself off and looked away, refusing to complete that dreaded sentence.

"As do you, Yakumo-kun," added Makoto as she wrung her hands around a handkerchief, tears streaking down her face.

Yakumo turned away from the group, his eyes locked on the firefighters below as they doused what was left of the house with water. "No, I do not."

Gotou tightly shut his eyes and set his jaw. "I'm going to be the one to do it, Yakumo. You will stay here and wait for me to return."

Yakumo grit his teeth and balled both of his shaking hands into tight fists. Just as he opened his mouth to protest, Gotou cut him off.

"You're only doing this as a form of self-punishment. And I refuse to allow it to happen. Stay here," he ordered angrily, visibly shaking as well.

…

The time finally came when the forensics officials arrived. Dr. Hata exited his car and headed toward the charred home with a morbid ensemble of medical equipment. Despite the situation, Dr. Hata was never one to turn down the examination of a freshly deceased corpse, especially one in such a rare situation as this. He spotted a group of people at the top of the hill before the house and narrowed his eyes perceptively. _So that brute of a detective is here. Oh, Yakumo-kun as well? This should be interesting. _

After he spotted him, Gotou deliberately walked toward the grinning doctor and exchanged a few words with him to briefly explain the situation at hand. The smile fell from his face in obvious shock, but he finally nodded. Gotou locked eyes with Yakumo before turning and heading toward the house, not looking forward to his task one bit.

As the two solemnly entered the still-smoking house, Gotou carefully observed the area where other officials stood in a tight cluster, talking in hushed whispers. Gotou was just barely able to make out the outline of a body covered underneath a white sheet behind the men.

"Coming through, coming through. We have a body to examine," Hata said quite jovially, despite the situation. The officials parted and let the duo through, regarding them with morose expressions, as if to tell them they wished they didn't have to see a dead person in such a state. Hata gripped the edge of the sheet and pulled it down over the body to reveal the upper half of the torso.

Gotou held his breath, wishing he could close his eyes and turn away from the gruesomely sad sight before him. There wasn't much to identify, except that it was in fact a body he was peering down at. The corpse was charred beyond any sort of facial recognition and Gotou grimaced as he regarded the agonized express it wore. _God … If Yakumo were to see this …_

"Oh? What's this?" remarked Hata as he knelt over the body and retrieved something. After a brief moment of fidgeting with whatever it was, he pulled back and faced the ashen detective, a necklace hanging from his fingertips. Gotou gasped, instantly recognizing the blood red pearl-drop gem from the end of it. The necklace Yakumo had given Haruka. It had been left untarnished by the flames and looked just as beautiful as he last saw it, hanging from Haruka's lively neck so many weeks ago. Gotou's eyes shot back to the body, realizing that the body lying before him had to be Haruka. An abrupt wave of sadness washed over him as he thought of the desperate face of Haruka's mother as well as the small shred of hope that Yakumo had been clinging to. Knowing he had to face them with the disheartening news was almost enough to break him.

Gotou took the necklace from him, gritting his teeth together.

It was going to take a lot of strength to do what he was about to do.

…

Yakumo ignored the positive words Makoto had tried to reinforce in him after Gotou had departed and focused on clenching and unclenching his sore fist. He was sure he had sprained it. But the pain gave him something to focus on to keep him from joining the detective and finding out for himself whether or not Haruka was truly gone. After he had refused the second can of hot coffee Makoto had offered him from a vending machine she had found nearby, Ishii suddenly straightened.

"Oh, he's back."

Yakumo looked up and sure enough, Gotou had mounted the hill and was heading towards them. Gotou refused to meet any of their eyes and his gait was slowed slightly, like he had aged twenty years within the half an hour he had been gone. Yakumo's insides twisted uncomfortably with the unfamiliar feeling of anxiety. But the look on the detective's face told Yakumo everything he needed to know. It had indeed been Haruka's body.

"So? What's the news?" Makoto asked anxiously, taking a step toward the man.

Yakumo stood uneasily, feeling the blood run out of his face.

Gotou didn't respond. Instead, he extended his hand and let a silver chain dangle from his fingertips. Yakumo's mother's necklace. "I'm sorry Yakumo-kun. She's gone."

Yakumo found his hands were quivering uncontrollably as he reached for the chain. His caught in his throat when he finally grasped it, unable to picture anything but the girl who had last worn it so graciously. Aiko had finally won. She succeeded with taking away the most cherished thing in his life, leaving him with nothing but an untarnished necklace that now meant nothing to him without the girl who wore it.

Haruka was dead.

She would never smile warmly at him again or blush with chagrin when he so dryly poked fun at her. She'd never again walk through the club room door and disturb his sleep. He'd never hear her laugh again. She'd never be by his side when he so greedily sought her comfort. Yakumo clutched the necklace, knowing he had brought death to the only person who'd ever called his malevolent red eye beautiful. All his attempts to protect her and keep her safe from the demons of his past had proved futile, after all. This particular failure hit him harder than any other mistake he had made in his life. More than anything, he wanted to take the necklace and throw it as far as he could manage in attempt to rid himself of the pain that coursed through him. But he couldn't; it would be like ridding himself of a memory that hadn't been as painful as some others.

He felt hands on his shoulders and voices of his allies question his well being. Tears and subtle sobs emitted from Ishii as well as Makoto. Gotou stood against the van in silence with a devastated air about him. Yakumo couldn't bring himself to speak or even care for that matter. From that moment on, he shut himself off from the pain, closing his heart like a vault that he was determined never to let open again. He had once thought that it had been closed and locked, but that girl somehow managed to evade his barriers and wedge herself into a part of him that she was now ripped from. Now he'd never allow anyone to slip past again to protect himself from feeling this and from hurting anyone else ever again.

With a calm hand, he tucked the necklace away deep in his pants pocket. He'd destroy it later. Without a single word being spoken, he turned away from the small entourage of people and walked over to a desolate spot where a separate van was parked. He sat and leaned against the cool metal, putting his head in his hands.

Gotou watched the boy out of the corner of his eye. He was well aware that Yakumo was instantly reverting back into his old self, if not a worse version, yet he couldn't bring himself to say a single word to him. What could he say? After all, the detective had failed as well. If only he had worked harder to find Haruka. If only he had devoted every ounce of his being without a wink of sleep to helping the girl. If only, if only. But now, he could do nothing. The girl was dead and he'd basically let her die. He'd let a _ghost _take advantage of her and evade him. And now that boy was the one suffering the most. He'd only suspected it before, but now he was sure Yakumo would never be the same again.

"Detective Gotou-san, you're needed," said the same officer from earlier, breaking the detective out of his brooding.

"For what?" Gotou asked stupidly, nearly flinching at the gruff sound of his voice, making him sound as if he'd been crying.

The officer wasn't fazed. "Someone has been found in the woods behind the home. She's alive, Gotou-san."

Gotou gasped, doubly shocked at hearing this news. "Alive?" Then, he nearly chided himself for being hopeful that Haruka had somehow managed to be alive. He knew it couldn't be true. He had proof that she had perished in the fire. The person had to be Kuroyuki Toshi, whose body wasn't inside the charred home. Gotou felt highly disappointed and caught himself wondering darkly why she gets to live on when Haruka won't.

"Take me to her," Gotou instructed nonetheless. The officer nodded and walked away, expecting the detective to follow. Gotou headed after him after shooting one last look at Yakumo, who appeared not to have heard the words exchanged between the two men. "Ishii, come with me," Gotou ordered at the last minute. The sobbing apprentice righted himself, wiped his face, and did what he was told.

…

"Ishii, get Yakumo. Now," Gotou said as soon as he found his voice, his eyes locked on the miraculous spectacle before him. As soon as he'd seen the wave of pink hair, he froze. Sure enough, on closer inspection, it was Haruka. Two medics hovered over her, checking vitals and trying to revive the currently unconscious girl.

Ishii, who had been rendered dumbstruck, could only stare ahead at the cataleptic pinkette a few feet in front of him. After so long being convinced that she was dead, seeing her in the flesh, alive, was nearly more alarming than any ghost he could imagine. "Y-yes, sir," he breathed and turned to run off.

…

"Saitou-kun, come quickly! It's Haruka-chan!"

The mentioning of her name once again sent a pang of guilt and agony through Yakumo's chest. He didn't bother looking up in the direction of Gotou's apprentice, but his finger twitched slightly, signifying that he heard him loud and clear.

"She's alive! Down in the forest! She's not dead!"

In sheer confusion and denial, he looked up at Ishii, his red eye piercing into his soul. Must he be tormented further? Was his pain so entertaining that he had to act upon it and say words that caused him such a stirring of emotion? He scanned Ishii's face and failed to recognize deception. However, his closed heart refused to believe the words that he spoke for he feared that if he had even a shred of hope, the information would prove false. Yakumo wasn't sure he could endure that.

"You must hurry! She hasn't regained consciousness yet, but she's alive. It's really her!"

Yakumo took in a breath, feeling conflicted. Did he dare believe the man in front of him? Was it possible that she could be alive? Gotou had given him the necklace she'd been wearing, hadn't he? Suddenly, a thought occurred to him: What if Aiko had taken the necklace from Haruka before she set the house on fire?

Yakumo immediately stood as he had this epiphany. Ishii took off and Yakumo followed, his heart beating rapidly inside of his chest.

…

The two reached a clearing within the small forest, taking in the sight of the horde of medics and police officials in the surrounding area. Yakumo struggled to catch his breath as he took several uneasy steps forward, noticing a pair of bare legs among the dirt. He swallowed hard and looked past the medics, immediately noticing dull pink hair. His breath caught in his throat as his eyes widened. He blinked several times, only to come to the conclusion that he eyes weren't deceiving him. The power in his red iris told him the girl before him wasn't a spirit and was very much alive.

It was Haruka.

Yakumo paid no mind to the two medics as he pushed past them and dropped to his knees before her. He hovered over her, one arm on each side of her. Seeing her up close sent a jolt of relief through him, despite how battered and wounded she was.

"She's coming to," he heard one of the medics grumble in the background.

"Haruka!" Yakumo called, cupping her cold and bloodstained cheek with his hand. Touching her somehow solidified the fact that she was actually there in front of him, alive and breathing, and she wasn't going to disappear.

The girl's delicate eyelids trembled and she exhaled sharply, finally opening her eyes. A broken smile spread across her ashen face as she met Yakumo's steady gaze. "Yakumo … kun …," she said, her voice quivering with unspoken happiness.

Yakumo felt so overwhelmed with relief that he scooped the worn girl up and took her in his arms. "You can drop the act … It's ok to cry, you know," Yakumo told her in a soft voice.

Gotou, who had been watching the two from behind, raised an eyebrow at Yakumo's sudden uncharacteristic action. Then, he chuckled softly and smiled before turning away to leave the duo in peace.

Haruka managed to wrap her arms around him, feeling sobs rack her pained body. Tears slipped down her cheeks and seeped into Yakumo's shirt. "Yakumo … there's so much … so much … I want to tell you," Haruka feebly said between hiccups. Yakumo merely clutched the girl tighter to him. Suddenly, Haruka slumped against him. Yakumo pulled away, seeing that her eyes had slipped closed.

The sound of an approaching ambulance reached their ears and Yakumo was forced to let the girl go as they loaded her unconscious body on a stretcher. Yakumo shared a look with Gotou as they put her inside the ambulance. Gotou nodded once and Yakumo hoisted himself inside the ambulance as it took off for the hospital.

-x

**A/N:** The chapter got too lengthy again, so you have **yet another chapter** to look forward to! Once this ends, I will have **seven chapters** in total, including the epilogue. This turned out longer than I thought, but I hope you've been enjoying it thus far! I know I have been savoring each and every one of your reviews! Thank you so much!

**Also, on the 19****th****, I just celebrated my three year anniversary on ! I couldn't have gotten this far without my loyal supporters, so thank you so much! Hoping for many more happy years on this site!**

~Moon

-x


	6. Chapter 6: Impenetrable Silence Pressure

**IMPORTANT A/N:**** Sorry about how long it took for me to update this. School, personal life, as well as massive writer's block prevented me from updating as quickly as I would have hoped. Every time I sat down to write, the words of inspiration just didn't flow as easily as they did for the previous chapters. I struggled to keep the characters in character, especially Yakumo. I had to place myself in his shoes and walk through ever step I wanted him to take while asking myself, 'What would Yakumo do about this?' Finally, I figured it out and I hope the performances don't disappoint. I figured that you guys would have preferred to wait a little longer to read a chapter that I took my time on and was proud of as opposed to one I forced and rushed. So, once again I apologize for the wait. I hope the length of this chapter makes up for it. Please know that each of your reviews have been the best type of encouragement a writer could ever ask for.**

**On a lighter note, I celebrated my sixteenth birthday on the 28****th**** of February and I'm now the proud owner of a brand new laptop. Also, I am now on summer vacation and I created a trailer for this story! Links in profile! Woot! Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the last chapter of Only Human. Special thanks to those who decided to stick with me and left me with wonderful words of encouragement!**

**The Epilogue chapter should be posted soon, as well as an edited version of this story later on.**

Only Human

Psychic Detective Yakumo

**Chapter Six:**** Impenetrable Silence ~Pressure~**

_This never should have happened, _Yakumo thought as he watched Haruka being frantically wheeled away on a stretcher through the cold, unfamiliar hospital halls by a set of doctors, not knowing if it would be the last time he would ever see her. Suddenly, an endless stream of words and sentences flooded through his head as she disappeared, and he knew that if her heart stopped beating, those words would be meaningless. Why now, of all times, did he think of the things he wanted to tell her when it could very well be too late? Yakumo couldn't even remember the last thing he said to her before this whole ordeal took place. He just knew it wasn't anything pleasant.

_This never should have happened,_ Yakumo repeated to himself. Of that, he was absolutely certain.

"Yakumo, you need to sit down," Gotou insisted as he set a hefty pat on the boy's shoulder. Yakumo shrugged the detective away, feeling nothing but guilt and remorse flood through him like a vile, raging river that had no chance of being stopped and was hell-bent on destroying everything in its path. He wasn't used to feeling this way. He was used to being in control, to having an answer for everything and staying calm no matter the situation. Why _now_ did everything have to change? Why did all sense of composure abandon him so suddenly? How was he supposed to get it back? Leave? Abandon everything he worked so hard for? Yakumo resisted kicking something. This was all his fault. Everything that had happened to Haruka, to the girl that had built so much for him, everything led back to all of his mistakes. How could he have let this happen? He should have been there more; he should have protected her like he promised her he would.

"Yakumo, sit down. Please. Everyone here is worried about you," Gotou was in front of him now, holding both of his hands on Yakumo's shoulders. Yakumo resisted pushing him away and turned around. Nao, Makoto, Ishii, and even Gotou's wife sat in the waiting room, staring at him with worried faces. Yakumo took a breath. Why did they waste their worry on him when it was Haruka, who's life _he'd_ put in jeopardy, who really deserved it.

Gotou sighed wearily and led Yakumo to the nearest chair and pushed him into it. Gotou seated himself in front of him and his wife offered them coffee, to which Yakumo merely stared at. Yakumo wore a mask devoid of emotion, but his eyes were burning pits of something Gotou could not identify. To be honest, the look terrified the detective, but he knew that there was next to nothing he could do for Yakumo now, except to get the truth of what happened earlier that night out of him.

"Why was Haruka-chan shot?" Gotou asked in a stoic matter without bothering to waste any time beating around the bush.

Yakumo turned toward the burly detective and gazed at him. His dark hair hung limply in his face and shadowy, nearly black circles were etched underneath his eyes, appearing as if they were painted on his skin with bleak shadows as the paint. He sighed sharply and ran his hand over his pallid face, as if doing so would in turn wipe away the painful array of emotions coursing through his body at that moment. After a long moment of inner contemplation, Yakumo decided to speak in hopes that if he allowed words to escape his mouth, he would be distracted from the torment of his innermost thoughts.

"I tried to convince Aiko that she would die if she killed Haruka, since she took over her body. She shot her to prove a point that she didn't care." Yakumo shuddered to himself, thinking of how easily Aiko took control of Haruka. He didn't even want to begin to imagine what that girl had to go through to be broken and manipulated so easily. Yakumo paused and locked eyes with the round stationary clock near the entrance of the waiting room door, solely concentrating on the nearly soundless ticking of the second hand. _4:34 A.M_., the lustrous clock face read back at him. His tired eyes took on a glassy form as the memories of a hopeless and bleeding Haruka in the merciless clutches of Aiko swam back into his head and pounded against his brain, permanently embedding themselves deep in the crevices of his thoughts. Haruka's eyes, which never failed to be jovial and bright, had taken on a haunted and hopeless look that night. The guilt was so overwhelming that he was almost sure he would drown within it and never resurface for as long as he lived.

_"Finally. I can see your utter devastation burning within you. You can't stand the thought of losing her, yet you are completely helpless to stopping me."_

Yakumo closed his eyes and tried to drown out that heartless woman's words as they drifted back to him and played in a relentless loop inside of his head. His voice nearly stuck in his throat as he spoke again. "If I would have made a move, Aiko… Aiko wouldn't have hesitated to kill her. There was nothing I could do."

_"I don't think you get it, Yakumo. You don't understand. And now I don't think you ever will." _The cruel words refused to stop flowing into him, which made every inch of his skin crawl. Yakumo refused to speak another word and an uneasy silence settled over the two men. Gotou swallowed hard, trying to find the right words to say to Yakumo to somehow ease the situation a bit.

"I guess all there is left to do is ask Haruka-chan herself when we get to see her," said Gotou at last, who chuckled blithely, hoping the idea of seeing Haruka alive and well would lighten Yakumo's spirits. Instead, he got quite the opposite reaction. Yakumo's hand instantly clenched around the Styrofoam cup of coffee he had yet to drink, his face hardening into a mask of sheer emotion that Gotou couldn't recognize. Gotou stared at him, quite shocked, at the sudden change of attitude in the young man. "Y-Yakumo…?" the officer questioned sheepishly, suddenly fearing an outburst of some sort of built up emotion to explode from the boy.

Yakumo turned his face away from Gotou, causing his dark hair to layer into his eyes. "It's nothing," he supplied coldly. In truth, when the mere thought of seeing Haruka, seeing her face, crossed his mind, all he could think about was how it was his fault she ended up in this condition. No, he would never be able to bear looking in her eyes for even a second, knowing that everything that happened to her was entirely his fault. There was also the fact that he would never be able to look at her without envisioning Aiko, whose life he'd also ruined as well. Surely, Haruka would never forgive him just as he would never, ever be able to forgive himself. Yakumo's hands shook so violently at these thoughts that he was forced to put his cup of untouched coffee down to avoid spilling it all over the linoleum floor.

Gotou didn't dare to speak another word to Yakumo after witnessing the rare spectacle before him. With the lack of voices, the hospital around them seemed eerie, as if all essences of life and personality had been wiped clean. The clock above the two men supplied the only noise in the room, and Yakumo was working to ignore it to the best of his ability.

After what had seemed like hours of endless waiting in the frigid and unwelcome waiting room of the unfamiliar hospital, Haruka's appointed doctor finally made his appearance. Everyone that had been anxiously awaiting the news of Haruka's condition got to their feet –apart from Yakumo, who hadn't noticed the doctor as of yet- and stood in a loose circle around the doctor. The stoic, no-nonsense look about his face made it hard for them to tell what he was thinking right off the bat, which made all of their stomach's clench with the fear of possible dreaded news.

"Is there any family present?" The doctor asked in a detached voice that matched his facial expression. Yakumo's head snapped up at the sound of the unfamiliar doctor's voice. The line that the man had just spoken wasn't unfamiliar to him. It was the very line they all used when they needed to inform the family of their loved ones' passing. Yakumo felt his heart quicken pace within his chest and he did his best to focus on the doctor's facial gestures, but his features gave nothing away.

Was this it, then? Did he come to tell them that Haruka could not be saved? That her heart had stopped long ago and nothing could be done to bring her back? Yakumo suddenly felt cold all over, as if his veins were being pumped with ice instead of blood. His eyes darted around the nearly empty hospital room, hesitantly searching for any signs of the recently deceased. God knows his own heart would stop if he saw Haruka's spirit roaming the halls. He knew that if he happened to see it, her spirit would follow him and torment until the end of his days. Yakumo wanted to vomit.

"Her mother is on her way. I called her an hour ago when we arrived. She should be here soon," informed Gotou, who was having a difficult time trying to remain calm.

As if on queue, Keiko Ozawa, Haruka's mother, rounded the corner at full speed, her dark pink braid flapping soundlessly behind her. Without so much as a second glance at the others, she stopped on front of the doctor, who regarded the woman with a surprised expression. "I'm Haruka's mother. I came as quickly as I could," she managed to say as she placed her hands on her knees, hastily pulling well-needed air into her lungs to catch her breath. "Please … how is my Haruka-chan?" Keiko asked at last with tears welling into her usually bright eyes. The doctor's expression softened slightly at her, but his pitch-black eyes were sad.

Yakumo's own heartbeat nearly deafened her mother's words and he swallowed hard, wishing the obnoxious noise would silence itself so that he could concentrate.

"Your daughter lost quite a lot of blood and it appears that she has been deprived of food and water for a good deal of time. Your daughter has lost consciousness for the time being. I'm not currently sure how long it will be before she awakens, but until then she will remain in critical condition." The doctor placed his hand on the woman's shoulder. "Rest assured knowing that Ozawa-chan still has a firm grip on her life and her chance for recovery is extremely high."

It was like a cool, calming ocean had washed over them as he spoke. The relief of knowing Haruka was still alive was so great that each one of them had the urge to sit down. Yakumo turned away, his hair falling into his eyes. Haruka was alive and she would soon be surrounded and doted on by the people that cared about her dearly. As he imagined this, he felt that he didn't fit into that picture. Despite this, he too was relieved that her heart still beat within her chest. That was enough for him to live with. Keiko broke into tears right in the middle of the room and had to kneel down to gain control of herself. The doctor helped her to her feet and did best to lead her to the nearest chair.

Keiko grasped the doctor by the arm as he turned to leave them. "Please … what can be done until then? Is there anything…?" the woman's voice broke with the tears that escaped her eyes and flooded down her cheeks.

The doctor covered her hand with his large palm. "Right now, her well-being is solely dependent on how well she responds to our current treatment. It's all we can do for the moment. We just have to wait this out until Haruka's body is ready to let her awaken."

"W-will I be able to see her at all before she regains consciousness?" Keiko desperately questioned, still clutching the doctor by the arm and refusing to let go until he gave her a solid answer that she could settle with.

"I will be sure to let you know as soon as we get Ozawa-chan in a more stable condition." With that, the doctor nodded at the group respectfully and headed away from them, disappearing into the medical office. Keiko finally succumbed to her tears as soon as he was out of sight, only to be comforted by Gotou's wife and Makoto.

"Saitou-kun…"

Yakumo instinctively looked up at the sound of the female voice before him. Haruka's mother stood in front of him with a slight, sad smile gracing her lips. A wave of remorse washed through Yakumo at the sight of the woman and he closed his eyes, settling back into his former position. Keiko Ozawa took a step closer to the boy and placed her hand on his arm.

"You kept your promise to me after all and saved my daughter. I wanted to thank you." Keiko Ozawa bowed deeply in front of the boy with hot tears welling into her tired eyes. "I'm forever grateful to you." Haruka's mother righted herself and humbly crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Yakumo didn't respond to the troubled mother's words. It took all of his willpower not to say, '_You wouldn't be saying such words to me if you knew I almost got your precious daughter killed.'_

Keiko paid no heed to Yakumo's body language and continued on. "You should know … she's changed so much since she met you. It's been years since I've seen her smile so often," Keiko finally said through an authentic smile.

Yakumo couldn't bring himself to look at her. "I assure you, your daughter would have been better off if she had never met me. I'm the one who put her here. I couldn't prevent her from nearly dying."

Keiko's smile faded into a sad glimmer of a frown at Yakumo's pained words. "You're greatly mistaken, Yakumo. I'm sure Haruka would agree." She nodded respectfully at Yakumo and turned to take her leave.

Suddenly, one of the nurses appointed to Haruka burst out into the waiting room with such a furor that everyone in the room jolted upright, their heartbeats pounding in their chests. The nurse's dark, mousy eyes locked on Haruka's mother. "Ozawa-san, Haruka-chan has woken up! She's alert and well! Please, come this way! Everyone, please make haste!"

Keiko Ozawa didn't hesitate to follow the petite woman, but at the last moment she looked over her shoulder at Yakumo. "Saitou-kun, you should come as well!" Without wasting another second, Keiko fled closely behind the nurse in the direction of her daughter. Yakumo followed the woman with his eyes and finally got to his feet, but he didn't dare make a move. As he watched Gotou and the others follow in the direction the two women went, he knew that he didn't belong there. Instead of following suit with the others, Yakumo turned and headed for the exit.

…

Keiko Ozawa all but fled into the room where her daughter was, desperate to see her as soon as humanly possible. "Haruka?"

The slight girl lying among the white sheets and pillows was unmistakably none other than Haruka. Her poignant eyes were alight with curious emotion as she turned toward her mother standing in the doorway. "M-mom?" Her voice cracked slightly and Keiko didn't hesitate to fly forward and engulf her daughter in a tight, loving embrace. Tears rolled down both women's faces and Haruka mustered just enough strength to cling to her mother and bask in her warmth, ever so grateful to be free of the cold and cruel grasp of Aiko, who was no more.

"My Haruka … my sweet daughter … you're safe now."

After a few moments, Haruka's mother freed her daughter from her arms and attempted to wipe her face of the tears and makeup that had streamed down it. She sat down on the edge of Haruka's bed and ever so carefully took her daughter's hand, cautious of the bullet wound she had suffered only hours earlier. Haruka had multiple injuries, most of them having been sustained on her fair face. Keiko brushed a stray strand of hair out of her daughter's face and realized exactly how close she had come to losing her only remaining daughter. Tears once again filled the woman's eyes as she gently stroked Haruka's cheek. "I'll call your father. He's been anxiously waiting outside," Keiko informed her daughter. Haruka managed a soft nod and her mother took to her feet and exited the room, cell phone in hand.

As soon as her mother was out of earshot, Haruka turned toward Gotou and Ishin. "Where's … where's Yakumo-kun? He wasn't injured was he?" She asked, her brows puckering with worry. Even as tired and battered as she was, she still had it in her to cherish Yakumo's well-being over her own.

Gotou turned toward his assistant. "Ishii. Tell him to get his ass over here. His girl is asking for him." To this, Ishii nodded compliantly and hurried away. He bolted down the nearly empty hallway back out to the emergency room only to find it empty with Yakumo nowhere in sight.

…

Rosy fingers of a new dawn had just crept across the sky and Yakumo put his hands in his pockets, setting a stone expression upon his face. He had only just stepped outside of the hospital, yet it felt as if he had walked a million miles. He felt that with each step he took, he got one step farther away from Haruka, which was just how it was always going to be. If he left now, he could make it home in record time without having to worry about traffic. Even then, he couldn't bring himself to care about that. He just wanted to get away from here as soon as possible.

"It seems that my daughter has surpassed even my expectations and survived this terrifying ordeal. Am I to thank you for that?"

Yakumo turned toward the distinctly male voice that had addressed him. A man who he did not recognize dressed in a wrinkled business suit leaned against the hospital building with his eyes closed and head down. He snapped his cellphone shut and placed it back in his pocket only to turn and face Yakumo with an icy stare. "I know who you are, but we haven't officially met. I'm Ryota Ozawa, Haruka's father."

"Ah," Yakumo supplied with a short nod of understanding. He couldn't bring himself to bring up a hospitable front and say something along the lines of 'Very nice to meet you' in front of this man, especially when he was being regarded with such a stoic expression. Yakumo leaned against the vending machine just opposite of Haruka's father, knowing that he was in store for an exchange of words. Ryota pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and put it to his lips to take a long drag.

"My daughter speaks of you often. Seems to have taking quite a liking to you. Don't know what she sees in you, though."

Yakumo chuckled once without humor, but remained silent. Yakumo didn't have a clue as to what Haruka liked about him either. On more than one occasion, he had been forced to question her sanity as it was.

A moment of silence passed on between the two men as the morning solidified itself around them. Ryota put out his cigarette and stepped on the butt to extinguish it. "I understand that you are the one who put my daughter in this situation which almost took her life. For this, I can't forgive you. You understand, don't you? As a father I have to do whatever it takes to preserve the life of the only daughter I have left. If I had my way, I'd do everything in my power to keep you from seeing my daughter ever again to prevent her further harm, but I know my place. It's Haruka's choice, not mine."

Yakumo closed his eyes, once again feeling the sting of guilt beat against his being. "She won't be forced to make that choice," Yakumo grudgingly said at last in a hollow voice. With that being said, Yakumo righted himself and walked away from the man, away from the hospital, away from Haruka.

-xoHo

"Mom, what … what happened?" Haruka asked her mother once the room had grown quiet. Haruka was having trouble remembering the events that took place after she had escaped the house of flames. She recalled excruciating pain that had reverberated all throughout her body and sudden darkness. She knew there was something to do with Yakumo as well, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. A pucker appeared between her brows as she concentrated, feeling as if she were trying to peer through a hazy wall that concealed everything she wished to know.

"The medics found you unconscious and bleeding to death in the wooded area behind the home you were held captive in. They say you fled from the house when it caught fire." Haruka's mother paused and then smiled sadly. "Darling, let's talk about it some other time, when you're feeling better. You're alive and well and that's all that matters at the moment," her mother told her as she covered her daughters hand with her own.

Haruka nodded and touched her cheek, which was throbbing awfully. "A nice shower sounds good right about now." Keiko stroked her daughter's hair absentmindedly, smiling as she did so.

Gotou tapped on the doorframe and both women looked up at him. "It's good to see you, Haruka-chan. You had us all worried for quite a while there."

"Ah, sorry Gotou-san," Haruka apologized, not really knowing what else she could say in this situation. Gotou merely smiled and shook his head at her in return.

"Don't worry about it. You're with us again, that's all that matters."

"Gotou-san … did Yakumo-kun leave?" Haruka asked when she realized Yakumo wasn't standing beside the detective, like she had expected. Gotou's smile faded and he cleared his throat.

"Can I have a moment alone with her, please?" Gotou asked. Haruka's mother nodded and left the room. Haruka's insides churned as she looked at the officer standing before her. _Something's wrong,_ her instincts told her. Her good hand clenched tightly around her bed sheet as Gotou took a seat. _Please, _please _let Yakumo-kun be alright._

"Haruka-chan … ah, how should I say this … Yakumo-kun, he … he left the hospital after he found out you had woken up. He's troubled, I'm assuming. I can only guess that he's feeling responsible for putting you in this situation, but he should come around soon."

"Oh … I see," Haruka said and released her hand from her sheet. Disappointment and hurt replaced her feelings of fear. Slowly, Haruka began to recall the events of the previous night. Yakumo had embraced her. What had she told him …?

_"Yakumo … there's so much … so much … I want to tell you,"_

"Gotou-san, can you convince him to come please? For me? I have … I have something I need to tell him. It's important."

Gotou blinked several times as he took in the weak girl's words. "I will try my best, Haruka-chan."

Haruka nodded, decided that there was nothing more she could do at the moment. "Thank you, Gotou-san. Also … I'm ready to tell you everything that happened to me."

**A/N:** Guess what, I had to split it into another chapter. So, be expecting the **last** chapter after this one. Also, be sure to check out the simple little trailer I made for this story, listed in my profile!

My Facebook page is up and running. Please check out the link in my profile and **like** my page! :D

~Moon

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	7. Chapter 7: Distance Grows Greater Smile

Only Human

Psychic Detective Yakumo

**Chapter Seven:**The Distance Grows Greater ~_Smile_~

_Two Days Later_

It was half past three in the afternoon and not much was happening inside the small hospital room in which Haruka was appointed. Few nurses bustled in and out each hour to check her vitals and provide her food and change her bedding and such, but no one came in that she was particularly interested in seeing. The only one Haruka wished to see walk through the doors was Yakumo, but she hadn't so much as heard about him these past few days. She couldn't help but wonder what it was she had done to make him stay away from her without even a single word of greeting. Was it because she was too weak to prevent herself from getting herself in a dangerous situation?

_After all, why else would I be targeted? I'm too weak to remain by his side … I've caused him nothing but trouble. I'm so pitiful. Perhaps Aiko should have just killed me._

A tear hastily slid down Haruka's sore cheek. She was sure she would have burst into a crying fit if a nurse hadn't have walked in right at that moment.

"Good afternoon, Haruka-chan. How are you feeling today?"

Haruka forced a smile at the woman and gently wiped her face clean with the back of her hand. "I'm well, thank you. Say … has anyone been in to see me?" Haruka asked desperately, even though she knew the answer long before she even asked.

"No, not today. If there were, we would have sent them up, you know that," the nurse replied as she took the girl's blood pressure.

Yes, Haruka knew. She knew all too well, in fact. She just couldn't help but hope that Yakumo had at least attempted to see her.

The nurse began to remove the bandages on Haruka's face, who was forced closed her eyes at the stinging pain. "Do you think it would be possible for me to take a shower? I feel gross," Haruka question before the nurse had a chance to dress her wounds. It was true, Haruka did feel quite disgusting since she hadn't had the chance to clean herself even once during the past two days here, but the real reason she wanted to take a shower was to see if she could handle standing and walking for short distances. The sooner she got on her feet, the sooner she could get out of here and find Yakumo.

"Well … I suppose it's possible, if you're feeling up to it."

Haruka nodded and the nurse finally agreed and proceeded to help her out of bed and into the small bathroom after Haruka succeeded in standing without getting dizzy. The nurse instructed her to push the call button if she needed any assistance and to be sure she held on to the shower bars while she bathed. After the nurse left, Haruka was sure to avoid the mirror and very carefully remove her clothing. She knew she wouldn't be able to do much more than stand under the shower head since she still had trouble using her arm, which was in a sling as it was, but as soon as the hot water hit her back, everything that troubled her seemed to dissipate for the moment. Her stiff muscles slowly began to relax and she let out a hefty sigh of relief. She was careful not to let any droplets of water hit her face, since it was the sorest of all, but she did manage to wipe it clean very cautiously with her fingertips.

Haruka looked down at the drain and her skin began to crawl as she saw the large specks of dried blood peeling off of her body and tainting the water red. Haruka could barely stand the sight and she emerged from the shower moments later. She wrapped a clean towel around herself and sat down on the closed toilet seat once her head began to swim from standing too long. Haruka steadied her breathing and once again took to her feet. She grasped the sink for support and then gathered the courage to look in the mirror for the first time since she was forced to by Aiko. _And how long ago was that …? Hours …? Days?_

Haruka grit her teeth as she stared at the person that reflected back at her. Haruka barely recognized herself in the mirror. Realistically, she knew it was herself, but she honestly wished it wasn't. Haruka bit back a sob that threatened to choke her. The cuts on her face were deep, purple, and gruesome looking, despite being neatly stitched up. The bruises were swollen and black and just as ugly. Haruka realized she no longer had possession of her perfectly smooth and healthy skin since the wounds, once they healed, would turn into hideous, marring scars that would probably stay with her for as long as she lived. Haruka took a shaky breath, feeling sick to her stomach at her reflection. With a shuddering hand, she reached forward and touched the mirror's surface.

_This is it. This is _me_. Yakumo-kun, will I be ugly to you now?_

-x

_Five Days Later_

After a reasonably tiresome day of classes, Haruka's friend Miki exited her classroom and headed down the concrete steps of the University, as eager as ever to reach her car and get on her way. Not even halfway, down, she spotted none other than Yakumo Saitou sitting on the bottom step.

"Ah, Saitou-san!" Miki shifted the weight of the stack of papers in her arms and hurried down the remaining steps. Miki knew Saitou hadn't been attending classes for quite some time and just seeing him on campus was a rarity. Yakumo stood up and began to walk away with his hands in his pants pocket as if he didn't hear the woman calling out to him. Miki wasted no time to catch up to him.

"I'm Miki, remember? Haruka's friend? You helped me-"

"I know who you are," Yakumo snapped at her as he rounded the corner and pulled a key out of his pocket.

Miki wasn't fazed by his attitude and kept on chattering away, even as he stopped in front of the club room door. "Well, have you been to see Haruka-chan yet? I was actually on my way to the hospital now, I have all of her homework here."

Yakumo opened the door and peered at the woman out of the corner of his eye. "And?"

Miki swallowed, feeling a bit intimidated by him. "Well, perhaps you'd like to come with me? We could carpool if-" but the girl didn't get a chance to finish her suggestion since Yakumo had already rudely slammed the door right in her face.

Miki stood back, quite aghast and taken aback by Yakumo's offensive actions. Was he always so cold?

-x

"Haruka-chan, you have a visitor."

Haruka shot upright in bed in response to her nurses words and eyed the door, her heart hammering in her chest so rapidly, she thought it would burst free. But, instead of Yakumo walking through the door, it was Gotou, closely followed by little Nao. Haruka hid her disappointment behind a sad smile.

"Why hello there, Nao-chan. How are you?" Haruka asked the girl and held her hand out to her, despite the fact that the little girl couldn't hear a word she had said. Nao smiled from ear to ear as she ran forward and clasped Haruka's hand, obviously ecstatic to see her.

"She wanted to show you something she found stuffed in one of the old man's drawers," Gotou informed Haruka just as Nao pulled out a dark yellow envelope from her pocket and handed it to Haruka. Haruka ran her hand through the child's hair just before she slid her finger under the flap and gently tore it open. She reached inside it and pulled out what appeared to be a small stack of pictures.

Haruka set the envelope down and began to look through the pictures, realizing they must have been taken by Ishiin without them knowing. Haruka found herself smiling at the mostly blurry photographs of a smiling Nao, the back of her own legs, and several of a yawning, bored looking Yakumo, who appeared to have caught on to his uncle's mischievous endeavors in one picture. Haruka gasped softly when she reached the very last photo, which was of both herself and Yakumo sitting at the kitchen table. Yakumo was listening to whatever Haruka had been rattling on about with his chin resting on his upturned palm. Haruka had her eyes closed, deep into the conversation and Yakumo had a very slight, discreet grin resting on his face.

Tears began to pool in Haruka's eyes as she brought her finger to touch the smile on Yakumo's face. Without saying another word, Haruka wiped the tears away and bent down to ruffle Nao's hair. "Thank you, Nao-chan," Haruka said as she placed the pictures back in the envelope and handed them to her.

Nao stared at the young woman before her with a frown on her face, quite perplexed by Haruka's tears. The young girl looked down at the pictures in her hands and came to a sudden realization. She and Gotou left soon afterward, leaving Haruka alone with her thoughts, wishing more than anything that Yakumo's smile in the picture would become a reality.

-x

Yakumo reclined on the couch inside the club room with his arm over his eyes, wishing like hell that sleep would overtake him sometime soon. He wanted to be free from his berating thoughts as well as the desire he had to take up that girl's offer to go see Haruka. Hell, he wanted his longing to see Haruka to disappear. _There's nothing for me there_, Yakumo told himself and rolled over, desperately wanting to believe it.

The club room door suddenly opened and Yakumo's eyes shot open, his blood running cold. The first thing that shot through his mind was an image of Haruka bursting through the door like she used to do on a daily basis. He turned around so vehemently to see who had entered that he nearly vaulted himself right off of the couch. Instead of an obnoxious, pink-haired girl with a ridiculous smile on her face, it was Gotou and Yakumo's young cousin. Yakumo groaned to himself and ran his hand over his face, wishing he had fallen asleep so he could have slept through this.

"What do you want," Yakumo asked bluntly, addressing the robust detective.

"I want you to get off of your ass and visit Haruka-chan," Gotou replied coolly as he took the liberty of seating himself in the foldout chair in front of Yakumo's table.

Yakumo sighed sharply and sat up to face Gotou. "You're the second person who's mentioned going to that damned place today."

"Yakumo, she personally asked me to convince you to go. She wants to see you,"

"Well, good for her," Yakumo smartly replied as he sat back against the cushions with his arms crossed.

Gotou made a sound of disbelief. "What's gotten into you? I've always known you to be a complete jerk, but this … this is extreme, even for you."

Yakumo shrugged indifferently. "I don't want to see her," Yakumo insisted.

Gotou narrowed his eyes at the boy, trying to see behind the mask that he was so strongly wearing. "Could it be that you really don't wish for her to see you and what this ordeal has made of you? Or maybe you don't want her to see the emotional side of you that you've worked so hard to bury for all these years?"

Yakumo bristled at the officer's questions. "When did you get a degree in philanthropy?"

"Don't answer a question with another question, Yakumo. Answer me. What is it that's keeping you away from her?"

Yakumo remained silent and Gotou leaned forward angrily, wanting to ring the boy's stubborn neck. "Don't deny it, that girl has changed you. Out of everyone who thought they'd find her dead, you suffered the most."

A pucker of frustration appeared between Yakumo's dark brows and he exhaled sharply. "Haruka …," he paused and took a breath. "Haruka doesn't need someone like me in her life after what I put her through."

A white hot flash of rage flashed through the detective and he got to his feet so quickly that the chair he had sat in clattered to the floor. "What _you_ put her through? Were you the one that kidnapped her, tortured her? Where you the one that tried to kill her? This was the work of a deranged killer, _not_ you." Gotou took a breath in attempts to calm himself. He unclenched his fists and righted the chair he had knocked over before once again sitting down. "Right now, all that girl wants is to see your ugly face." Gotou locked eyes with Yakumo. "If you _really_ blame yourself for what happened, I would think that you'd be prepared to do whatever that girl wished of you."

Yakumo couldn't believe that those words had actually escaped Gotou's mouth, nor could he actually believe that he somewhat agreed with him. Yakumo set his jaw and ran his hand through his matted mess of hair. After a moment of internal debate, he finally gave in, even though he wanted to do anything but. "Fine. I'll go."

Gotou smiled triumphantly. "Good. I knew you had a brain somewhere in that thick skull of yours."

Yakumo gave him the most disgruntled look he could manage. _Dingy old bastard_, he thought. _Always gets his way._

Gotou's smile faded and he cleared his through. "One more thing … the doctors can't really do much for the wounds … on her face. So … try to ignore them the best you can, Yakumo."

"What, you think I'd be cruel enough to tease her about it?" Yakumo scoffed. He shook his head and settled back into the couch with his arms behind his head, wishing the tension would leave his muscles in peace.

Nao, who had been standing on the sidelines without making a single noise, stepped forward toward her cousin. Yakumo opened his eyes and regarded her in silence as she pulled out a picture from a large envelope and handed it to him. Yakumo eyed the picture of Haruka and himself sitting at his uncle's kitchen table and felt as if it had been taken a million years ago, when things were simple. Haruka wore a smile so easily back then and he found himself wondering if she would smile again. Nao reached upward and poked the corner of Yakumo's mouth, breaking out into a wide grin.

_Smile_, he thought. _That's what she's trying to tell me. Could that be what Haruka wants…?_

-x

The next morning, after Haruka forced herself through another shower, the doctors informed her she would be well enough to go home after one more day of rest. This news, as well as her friend Miki's visit the previous day was nearly enough to make Haruka smile and mean it. But she still hadn't seen or heard from Yakumo and she was beginning to worry that he would never come.

_What if he avoids me even after I leave here?_

_ What if he never wishes to speak to me again?_

_Damn it_, she internally cursed, fighting back tears for the umpteenth time today. _He doesn't even know what he means to me. That idiot …_

Haruka sat in the extremely uncomfortable hospital chair and peered out her window. She was on the third floor and had quite a clear view of the countryside of this unfamiliar city. Even so, all she wanted was to go home and see Yakumo and fix things once and for all. She felt that if her wishes weren't granted soon, she'd lose her sense of sanity and turn into a wallowing mess of her former self.

_ Yakumo-kun, why…?_

-x

Yakumo put off the trip to the hospital until only an hour remained out of the visiting time. He thought that he was going to dread every second that brought him closer to the hospital –to Haruka- but all he felt was a gradual easing inside of him the closer he got. Finally, he reached his destination and was directed to Haruka's room. Just as he approached her door, he wondered what type of reaction he'd receive from her.

Would she be glad to see him? Perhaps angry, or maybe she'd burst into tears? Or maybe she'd do nothing and simply ignore him as if she saw right through him. Somehow, the latter thought terrified him the most and he had to force himself to push open the door and take a step inside. Immediately, he noticed she wasn't in her bed, but was instead reclining in a chair by the window wrapped in a fuzzy pink robe, fast asleep.

Yakumo sighed softly and reached inside his pocket to retrieve his mother's necklace. As softly as he possibly could, Yakumo treaded toward her and placed the necklace inside the large pocket on her robe. Once he straightened himself, he eyed her sleeping face and felt as if he'd been kicked in the stomach. Even cleaned and stitched, the cuts on her face were still as brutal, if not worse, as he remembered. He could only imagine the scars they would leave on her once porcelain-smooth skin. Her arm was in a sling and he could just barely make out the shadows of aging bruises around her neck which greatly resembled handprints. Yakumo backed away, feeling as if he was living a dream. He had to blink several times to convince himself that she was really there in front of him and he wasn't dreaming or hallucinating. She was real, alive. Haruka stirred in her sleep but she didn't rouse and Yakumo didn't have the heart to wake her, especially for something as trivial as seeing his face. Yakumo turned on his heel and headed for the door.

"Yakumo … -kun…?"

Yakumo stopped, not even four feet from her, and realized she had awoken. And she'd noticed him. When he faced her, she eyed him sleepily, as if she still believed she was still inside of a dream.

"Are you … really there?" Haruka straightened herself and rubbed her eyes with her good hand. Yakumo didn't make a single move and Haruka finally focused on him, appearing as if she was seeing him for the first time in her life. Then, like someone had flipped a switch, anger overtook her face and she got to her feet. "Bastard!" Haruka grabbed the first thing her hand came in contact with, which was her water cup, and she chucked it at him with as much force as she could muster. Yakumo didn't bother to dodge it, even though she missed his head by a long shot. "Why didn't you come?" she screeched at him, her voice broken by the tears that flowed heavily down her cheeks. Haruka threw the pitcher next, which smashed against the wall two feet from him and doused him with water. The force of her toss threw her off balance and she began to fall forward. Yakumo acted fast and caught her before she could hit the cold linoleum.

Haruka's cheeks flooded with heat at their close proximity and she pushed away from him, opting to sit on the edge of her bed. As soon as her head stopped swimming, she planned on demanding why he'd avoided her, but was distracted by the light, nearly inaudible chinking of metal in her pocket. Haruka reached inside and pulled out the ever familiar necklace. Instantly, all of her anger toward Yakumo dissipated at the sight of the bright red gemstone. "Ah, I'm relieved! I thought it would have been lost in the fire…" Haruka fastened it and managed to slip it on over her head with one hand. Sighing sadly, she turned to Yakumo and realized that he was finally here, standing right in front of her, like she had wanted.

"Yakumo-kun … you avoided me … why?"

Yakumo leaned against the wall opposite her and peered directly into her eyes. Haruka noticed the shadows under them as well as the light that was failing to reflect inside of them like she had so fondly remembered. In just a few weeks, he looked as though he had aged ten years just in his eyes.

"I thought you were dead," Yakumo stated in a raw voice without looking away from her for even a second.

Haruka was stunned to silence. She wasn't used to Yakumo actually telling her what was on his mind, and with such emotion animating his voice. "T-t-that's hardly a reason to elude me, Yakumo-kun," the girl managed to say after she regained a small sense of composure.

"You couldn't possibly understand," Yakumo snapped without thinking. He flinched ever so slightly and his hair fell in his face to shroud his eyes. "I thought Kuroyuki's body was yours. Gotou found the necklace around her neck."

Haruka's fingers automatically reached up to clasp the necklace's piercingly red bead. "She took it from me early on, saying you were going to abandon me one day, like you abandoned her." Haruka desperately sought out his eyes and didn't speak again until he met hers.

"Yakumo … was what she said to me true? That she went to you for help but there was nothing you could do?"

Yakumo nodded once at her, not trusting his voice enough to speak. Haruka swallowed hard, feeling as if her voice stuck to the back of her throat. The two faded into an uneasy silence that neither knew how to break. Haruka felt her heart sink as it began to dawn on her that their relationship –or whatever it had been before all of this- would never be the same. Yakumo, however, felt nothing but guilt run through him as he looked at the woman in front of him. Despite what Gotou had told him earlier, he felt as if he were the one that had harmed her with his own hand.

"If you never would have met me… none of this would have ever happened to you. I planned on leaving so that you wouldn't have to see me again, so I couldn't hurt you anymore. I'm still prepared to do it," said Yakumo after he could take no more of the long, dragging silence between them.

Yakumo's words scared Haruka and at that moment she felt such a great distance between him and herself that she didn't know if she'd ever be able to cross it for as long as she lived. If he was serious about what he'd said, she had to do something, anything! She couldn't let him walk away, not now. Not when she still had to- "Yakumo-kun-"

"Why did you stay by my side for so long? Why?" Yakumo interrupted, his hands clenching into violently quivering fists.

Tears once again blurred Haruka's vision as annoyance and frustration at his words pierced her heart and fueled her with the courage she needed to speak the words she'd been dying to say since she regained consciousness. "Idiot! You – You're such an idiot! I fell … I fell in love with you … that's why I stayed! None of my feelings have changed either since this happened! If anything I – I love you more now." Haruka's fist clenched around the sheets of her bed. "Nothing has changed. Even if you have." The tears finally broke free and streamed down Haruka's face. Her face turned beet red as she realized she was finally telling him. She was finally telling him everything. And she didn't dare stop now.

"That's why I endured what I did. I endured everything Aiko did to me because I knew that no matter what she did, no matter how badly she hurt me, she couldn't take away what was in my heart. So that's why – that's why even if you hate me for being so weak, they won't change-"

"Hate you?" Yakumo whispered, horrified that she would even suggest such an imprudent thing. "If you think for a second-"

"Excuse me sir, visiting hours are over in five minutes," voiced Haruka's nurse, who had popped her head in through the doorway just long enough to speak before hurrying away. The door shut behind her and the tension between Haruka and Yakumo was so thick that even a knife had no chance of penetrating it.

Out of desperation, Yakumo turned away from Haruka and headed for the door, prepared to walk away and never return.

"So that's it, then. After everything I just said to you … you're just going to simply walk away?" Haruka asked, not even bothering to hide her crackling voice.

"Perhaps. What does it matter?" replied Yakumo without concerning himself to turn around and face her.

"Because I can't walk!" Haruka cried. "You're just going to walk out of my life and … I can't chase after you…"

Yakumo closed his eyes and resisted wiping his hand over his tired face. "Haruka…"

The girl flinched at the use of her name. Yakumo never called her by her first name. He just started to now … and the manner in which he spoke it … all of it was unfair to her. "I wanted nothing more than to see you so I could tell you that… I just stared out that window silently praying you would come so that I wouldn't lose my chance to tell you that. And I'm not afraid! I've never been so fearless in my life. I don't even care if you feel the same way about me. Aiko took away my fear…"

"I am."

Haruka stopped and stared at Yakumo's back, unsure if he had really spoken those two words. "W-what?"

Yakumo peered over his shoulder at her, his red iris being the only eye visible. He clenched and unclenched his jaw as if he were debating over whether or not to answer her. "Afraid. I _am_ afraid."

Haruka could hardly believe her ears. Was this truly Yakumo speaking to her? The cold, indifferent Yakumo? Was he honestly expressing himself to her, telling her how he felt?

"What are you afraid of?" Haruka asked breathlessly, her eyes wide with disbelief. But just like that, Yakumo closed back up and turned away to free himself from her penetrating gaze.

"Please, don't ignore me Yakumo-kun," Haruka swallowed hard, trying to moisten her dry throat. "I-I told you how I felt. Now it's your turn."

Yakumo exhaled sharply and pinched the bridge of his nose. _Damn the girl. Why does she always win?_

"I fear you," Yakumo finally answered. "What you do to me … what you cause me to think … the hold you have over me, it's terrifying." Yakumo felt too open, too revealed. Damn it, why did he even bother saying anything in the first place? He didn't like knowing he was exposed for the entire world to see. For _Haruka_ to see. Frankly, he knew he owed her the honesty that she had shown him, but it was well out of his comfort zone. God, if she only knew the _torment_ he'd suffered these past few weeks just because of her disappearance. If she only _knew_ the thoughts that had occupied his brain. He'd turned into a raving lunatic, all because of her! Why?

"Yakumo-kun … what do you mean by that…?" Haruka asked, feeling her heart flutter inside of her chest. This side of Yakumo had never been exposed to her before and she wasn't sure how long she had to witness it before he shut himself up again.

Yakumo turned and faced her full on. He wore an expression of mild frustration and something Haruka could only identify as embarrassment. "I don't have an answer to that," he said at last.

"Sir, you really must leave now. I've permitted you to stay long enough," said the nurse as she made her reappearance through Haruka's door. Yakumo nodded at her and sauntered over to the door. Before he stepped through it, he looked back at the blushing pinkette who had just professed her love to him.

"As for that matter … hating you is impossible for me," Yakumo informed her in a calm tone. Haruka turned brighter still as his red eye shined at her.

There might have been a flicker of a grin on the corner of Yakumo's mouth as he left, but Haruka couldn't say for sure since she was still reeling from everything that had been said between them that day.

_Impossible, huh?_

**A/N:** Well, that's the last official chapter, but the epilogue chapter will be coming soon, which is still just as important as a regular chapter! Don't miss it and don't forget to leave me a nice review!

Don't forget to check out the simple little trailer I made for this story, listed in my profile!

My Facebook page is up and running. Please check out the link in my profile and **like** my page! :D

~Moon

-x


	8. Chapter 8: Epilogue: Only Human

Only Human

Psychic Detective Yakumo

**Chapter Eight: **Epilogue ~_Only Human_~

_**~One Month Later~**_

Haruka dashed out into the freezing winter air and tore through the crowded corridors of the university with a multitude of heavy textbooks piled high in her arms. She weaved around students and professors alike, apologizing as she went, narrowly avoiding disaster with each step she so swiftly took. Her breathing was uneven and shallow, proof of her rapid haste and exertion. She swallowed and shifted her weight as she ran, hoping to keep a firm grip on all of the expensive books she was carrying.

"Haruka-chan! W-wait up!" cried Miki a few steps behind her, trying to keep up with her speedy friend. Haruka mounted the giant cement staircase, her heels clacking like a horse's hooves on the cool pavement.

"I want to get a good table at the library, Miki! I have a lot of studying to do for all the exams I missed!" Haruka grit her teeth, focusing on the stairs her feet currently mounted because it was nearly impossible to see past the stack of books that were looming dangerously over her head.

"I understand that but-" Miki broke off to take in a long breath. "Wait just a second, will you?"

Haruka impatiently obliged and looked back at her out of breath friend, not in the mood for chitchat. Haruka shot a nervous glance around the campus, growing more and more uneasy by the second.

"Jeeze, Haruka-chan. You shouldn't be this fast. You just got out of the hospital not two weeks ago!" Miki shook her head at her, resting her palms on her knees. Haruka felt slightly guilty. She hadn't meant to drag her friend so selfishly along with her, but she didn't want to risk going all the way across campus by herself. She might run into—

"Something happened between you and that jerk, didn't it?" her friend slyly interjected with a delicate raise of her eyebrow, as if she had read Haruka's mind. Miki straightened her posture and took a slow step toward her friend. "I _know_ you, Haruka. Ever since you've grown close to him, you'd take every chance you got to visit that guy. The only reason you'd be dashing off to the library so fast after classes is because you're _avoiding him_. Am I right?"

Haruka inertly thought back to the day in the hospital when _he_ had finally found his way to her. She'd literally poured her heart out and told him of her feelings for him. Haruka's face heated instantaneously as she recalled the events in vivid detail. Miki had hit the bull's-eye with her theory. Haruka had been, in fact, avoiding him for the past week or so. She hadn't seen him since she was released from the hospital and she refused to visit, finding every excuse possible not to go. It was childish, really. Haruka knew that trying to evade the one she loved solely because she feared rejection –among other things- was not the adult thing to do.

"I-I-I-I'm not avoiding anyone!" Haruka stubbornly insisted, despite the fact that she'd been caught. "I told you, I've fallen dangerously behind in my classes. If I have any hope of passing, I need to study." Haruka deftly turned her back on Miki and headed back up the stairs, determined to pick up the pace and get to the library with or without her friend. "Besides, there's no reason I would be avoiding-"

The heavy stack of books Haruka had been clutching suddenly crashed hard into something solid and she cried out, losing her grip on nearly all of them. She struggled to regain her balance as a multitude of them crashed to the floor, skittering to and fro across the stairs. A pair of hard green eyes met hers, belonging to none other than the one she had been avoiding all this time, standing just a few steps in front of her.

"…Yakumo…"

The sudden urge to bolt surged through Haruka like a thousand volts of electricity and she swallowed hard, instantly breaking eye contact before she did something stupid, like listen to her urges. She stooped over to retrieve her fallen books, trying to ignore the fact that her face had turned into a shade of red that was so vibrant, she would have given tomatoes a run for their money. "Sorry I was just …. I mean, uh … I … Sorry," stuttered Haruka. She shot a quick look behind her, hoping Miki would save her somehow, but discovered that her friend was not there and had probably run off as soon as she spotted Yakumo. That traitor.

Haruka took in a breath and reluctantly looked back up at Yakumo, who was regarding her with a clouded expression. "H-how are you, Yakumo-k-kun?" Haruka planted a bright smile on her face, knowing that it was impossible for him not to notice how uncomfortable she was now. Just as she suspected, Yakumo's expression didn't change. Instead, he handed her a bright red textbook that she had dropped and exhaled quietly.

"You do know that there's no way all of these will fit in the club room, right?" Yakumo questioned in a cool voice, a voice that Haruka had secretly been yearning to hear for weeks. She resisted shivering, knowing that she was under his intense scrutiny and he would surely catch any slight movement she made. She automatically focused on his left eye, which was slightly obscured by fringes of his dark hair. Haruka imagined the intense color of his red iris, hidden underneath a contact lens, and took in a breath. His dark eyebrow shot up ever so slightly, indicating that he was expecting an answer.

Haruka's cheeks once again tinted red and she bent to pick up another book in order to distract herself. She nervously pushed a strand of her pink hair behind one ear, wondering how she could possibly give him a coherent answer when she couldn't even remember how to speak properly. "A-actually, Yakumo-kun, I was heading toward the library. I have to study."

When he didn't respond, she stole a glance up at him. He had a slightly amused look on his face, as if he had seen right through her. "Really. Well, you are aware that the campus library is in the complete opposite direction, right?" Yakumo deadpanned, seeing directly through Haruka's lame excuse.

Haruka froze and she finally took notice to the stairs on which she currently stood. Her eyes traced each step all the way to the top and she realized with a gut-wrenching jolt that he was right, and she was heading in the direction of the club room. She knew that she must have headed this way out of sheer habit, because not once did she ever venture anywhere else but there after classes. Haruka suddenly felt very awkward, not knowing how to proceed. She knew she'd been caught, by Yakumo nonetheless, and she had nothing left to do but simply explain herself.

Yakumo was staring at her, waiting patiently for her to speak again. The memory of Haruka's angry confession rushed back to her with blinding speed and Haruka took an involuntary step away. She pursed her lips, wishing that she could disappear and not have to tell him that she was avoiding him after all and she simply couldn't face him because she knew the impending rejection was bound to happen as soon as she did.

"Right…" Haruka nervously said at last. "I knew that. Of course. I was just meaning to… well…" As soon as she met his eyes, she was locked under his penetrating stare and all of her resolve flooded out of her like air escaping a balloon. She opened her mouth, but her voice would not come to her. Dark images of him coldly turning down her affections and stalking away from her haunted her, further fueling her hesitation. Her heart was clenching and constricting so painfully in her chest at the mere thought of it that she was sure she wouldn't be able to bear living through the act of it. Haruka bit down on her lip again and clenched her books tighter to her aching chest, clinging to them like her very life depended on it.

"I should … I should go," she stammered, realizing a second too late that her voice had broken several times and completely gave her away yet again. Before she could stop herself, she turned on her heel and prepared to bolt down the steps from whence she came.

"Haruka."

The way he spoke, his arm may as well have reached out and latched around her wrist, because she stopped dead in her tracks as if he had. Haruka wasn't used to hearing Yakumo address her by her first name, a habit he picked up ever since their meeting at the hospital, and he voice was filled with something she could quite identify, something other than annoyance or boredom. Haruka gasped and spun around to face him once more. Yakumo hadn't moved. He stood completely still with his hands resting leisurely in his pants pockets and he was still watching her. His mouth was set in a hard line, but he was not impatient with her, like she would have been if she was in his position.

_What are you so afraid of, idiot? _Haruka found herself wondering. _He knows how you feel about him. The hard part is over. What are you waiting for? _Haruka swallowed hard as a long moment of still silence drifted between them, broken only by the sound of the brisk winter wind. She blinked, suddenly feeling tears well behind her eyes. Before her was the boy who'd been through so much with her, the boy who'd risked his life to save hers without hesitation, the boy who'd never given up on her, even when others had.

_"What you do to me … what you cause me to think … the hold you have over me, it's terrifying."_

_Yakumo_ has said that to her, she reminded herself. He'd spoken up and voiced his feelings to her, and she was pushing herself away from him because of a childish, idiotic fear. But even if he rejected her, her feelings wouldn't change or even grow weaker for that matter. Nothing could change how she felt and no matter what the situation was, she wasn't going to push him away any longer.

The mass of books Haruka carried tumbled out of her arms as she stepped forward without hesitation and folded her arms around Yakumo's still body. She heard him exhale softly in surprise as she pressed the side of her face into his chest.

"Sorry, Yakumo-kun," she whispered, clenching her fingers around his shirt.

"Ah," he verbalized softly and placed his hand atop her pink head. "I wondered when you'd stop being such an airhead."

He idly noted that she was over a head shorter than him, something he had never taken notice of before. She was small and she fit perfectly against his broad chest. Her face was warm, as well; he could feel her skin through the fabric of his shirt. Haruka pulled away, her face tipped downward in girlish embarrassment. She was blushing faintly and her bottom lip was caught under her front teeth. The scars on her face were visible, even under the mass amount of makeup she must have applied in order to conceal them, but they didn't diminish her appearance in the least. They proved to him that she was alive; that she had survived everything she had been through, that she was not weak.

Yakumo said nothing as she stooped for what had to be the umpteenth time to retrieve her now-battered text books. She held them gingerly and balanced the weight of them on her arms, knowing she couldn't afford to drop them again if she wanted to avoid paying a damage fine. She met his eyes then, giving him a sheepish look. It wasn't hard for Yakumo to decipher what she was thinking.

"You really do have to go to the library, don't you," he guessed smugly, raising a lazy brow at her, like the previous events had not transpired at all.

Haruka brushed a strand of flyaway hair back behind her ear and nodded once. "It would be best if I go. I really am behind in some of my studies." She shot him another awkward glance, suddenly embarrassed. "Would you, ah, come with me? Since Miki abandoned me and all … it would be kind of pointless to go alone."

And it would be getting dark soon, Yakumo added internally. The thought of Haruka crossing the campus by herself in the dark, completely susceptible to anything out there, made him prominently uncomfortable. He was most definitely not having that.

Yakumo said nothing and merely held out his hands for her to give him some of the books she carried. Haruka took that as a 'yes' and handed him a few, greatly relieved to know that he would be at her side, even though she couldn't quite bring herself to admit it.

-X

The library wasn't as packed as she expected, but she did recognize several students in her classes scattered about the tables, immersed in work of their own. A few waved at her and she nodded back at them in acknowledgement, scouting out an empty table far away from prying eyes. It had been so long since she and Yakumo had been alone together and she didn't want people eavesdropping on any conversations they might have. Finally, they spotted one in the back corner of the library and they immediately dumped the large stack of books onto the surface, relieving themselves of their burden.

Haruka sighed in relief and plopped down into the chair closest to her and Yakumo followed suit. She unpacked all the studying essentials she had brought with her about the table, leaving nearly no surface area open. Yakumo raised an eyebrow at it all but didn't dare say a word. Haruka laughed awkwardly in apology as she shuffled through several sheets of paper, all covered in her scraggly handwriting.

Not ten minutes after she had gotten settled and had set to work, Haruka abruptly realized she needed additional information for the test she was studying for. She glanced at Yakumo, currently seated directly across from her, and smiled warily even though he wasn't looking at her.

"I'll be right back," she informed him and stood up, holding a pencil and several sheets of paper in her hands.

"Ah," he replied, appearing to be bored out of his mind. He yawned and cupped his face in one hand, absentmindedly leafing through the pages of some worn history textbook.

Haruka hesitated uneasily, feeling slightly guilty. "You know… it's fine if you don't want to stay. I'll be ok here-"

"No," Yakumo interjected, turning a page in the book. "It's fine. I'll stay."

Haruka didn't argue against him, since the tone of his voice indicated that there was nothing she could say to get him to move from that spot. Haruka stood there, completely silent for several seconds before she realized she had been staring at him like a brainless idiot. She immediately turned away and headed down an isle of books before he could catch her at it.

Her fingers traced the spines of the books resting on the shelf that held the book she desired, softly muttering to herself as she searched for it. She knelt down to check its title scribbled on the wrinkled paper she held when a large section of hair fell free from its hold behind her ear and obscured her sight. She pushed it away, and yet another piece flew free. She exhaled sharply and slapped both hands to her sides. It had been almost four months since she last trimmed her hair and it had significantly grown quite a bit. It covered the entire back of her neck and her bangs were too long to really be called bangs anymore. Frustrated, she rummaged around inside her purse for a rubber band she kept there for emergency purposes. She tied it back in a tight, albeit small, ponytail and pinned her bangs back with two barrettes she had also found.

_There,_ she thought._ See if any pesky hairs bother me _now_._

Haruka found the book she had been searching for not long after and made her way back to the table, only to find that Yakumo was absolutely still, his forehead resting on his arm while his free hand cupped the nape of his neck. Haruka softly set down her book and leaned close to him, supporting her weight on her forearms. She listened for a moment and sure enough, she made out the measured sounds of his slow breathing, a sure sign that he actually was fast asleep. Haruka took hold of her pencil and began to prod his arm gently with the eraser.

"Yakumo-kun…" she whispered breathily, leaning closer. "Yakumo…"

He stirred finally and Haruka drew her pencil away, yet she made no means to move any farther away from him. He looked up at her, exhaustion clearly evident in his eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were so tired," amended Haruka in a guilty voice. "We could leave now if…" she trailed off, noticing that he hadn't blinked once since he opened his eyes. Color tinted her cheeks as she slowly began to realize that he was staring directly at her. She began to wonder if he had somehow managed to fall asleep with his eyes open when he sat up and rubbed his face with the back of his arm.

"You can see your face that way. It looks better like that," he told her quite nonchalantly, as if he didn't just give her an indirect compliment that caused Haruka's body to freeze and her breath to nosily catch in her throat.

"T-thank y-you," Haruka murmured nervously as she settled back into her chair, her face utterly red. Yakumo had already turned back to the book he had previously been looking through by the time she had mustered up enough courage to look back at him. She turned her attention back to her studying as well, even though her mind forbade her to concentrate on anything but Yakumo and his unexpected compliment.

-X

It was about an hour later when Yakumo realized that Haruka had fallen asleep among a pile of books and papers at the table, a worn pencil still in her hand. She had been studying silently for so long that he honestly didn't notice she was asleep until he looked over at her. Yakumo checked his watch. It was about six thirty and it surely would be freezing and pitch black outside by now. He exhaled softly and sat back in his chair, regarding the girl with careful eyes. Her shoulders rose and fell as she breathed and he could barely make out the motions of her twitching eyelids, indicating that she was dreaming.

"Oi. Wake up," Yakumo ordered loudly, not caring one bit that he was currently inside a dead silent library. The girl didn't even flinch. He sighed and placed a hand on his forehead as he watched her sleeping form. "What am I going to do with you…" he muttered under his breath, sighing once again.

-X

Haruka woke up with a start when frigid winter air hit her directly in the face, chilling her to the bone. She shuddered hard, despite the fact that she was pressed up against something quite warm. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she blinked several times, curious as to why the library had gotten so dark and cold so suddenly. It was then that she realized that she was no longer inside the library. She was outside. And Yakumo was carrying her on his back, his arms locked underneath her kneecaps. She lifted her head from its place on his shoulder so rapidly that she nearly tossed herself off of him.

"W-wha…? Y-Yakumo-kun, what are you…"

Yakumo stopped walking and looked at her from the corner of his eyes, appearing slightly put out. "It's your own fault sleep better than a rock. The library was closing. I figure you'd prefer this to being dragged out by your ankles."

Her face instantaneously heated to a degree that could boil water. She'd barely heard what he'd said; she was too preoccupied with the fact that _Yakumo Saitou_ was _carrying_ her like a child that weighed no more than a sack of potatoes. Their unnervingly close proximity made her head swim and bubble with a hundred emotions threatening to spill over all at once. How could he be so relaxed about it all? Did carrying a once-sleeping girl who had professed her love to him not so long ago not bother him in the slightest? Haruka was _panicking_. She would have bet her non-existent student budget that he could feel her heartbeat, and that thought only caused it to increase its pace tenfold within her chest. The fact that he hadn't put her down yet didn't help matters much, either. Not that she was complaining, though. Being held by him like this was quite comforting.

"H-h-how long was I asleep?" she stammered, desperate to distract herself from the tumultuous thoughts roiling through her head.

"Long enough to leave drool on my shirt," he responded casually and resumed walking.

Haruka gasped and hastily wiped at the corners of her mouth, only to fine that both sides were dry and drool-free. "I do not drool!" she exclaimed angrily, wishing that she wasn't blushing as badly as she was.

"Then why did you waste the time to check?"

Haruka's azure eyes widened ever so slightly as a wave of déjà vu crept up and washed over her. They had already had a conversation similar to this, she realized. Back before she had been kidnapped, when everything was so different. Haruka smiled softly and rested her chin on Yakumo's shoulder, her arms comfortably clasped around him. Nothing had changed between them though, she thought. Yakumo was still Yakumo and she was still Haruka, even though the two of them had matured for the better with everything the two of them had been through this past month.

Her smile slowly faded from her face as her thoughts turned down a more serious path. "I never thanked you for saving my life," she told him quietly, her voice no louder than a whisper. He'd surely heard her since her face was so close to his ear, yet he took his time to respond, conflicted with the thoughts the roiled in his brain that materialized as soon as she spoke those words.

"I didn't save you, Haruka," he finally said, his voice containing shades of both anger and sadness, something that only Yakumo could manage and still appear composed on the surface.

"That day … it was you who approached Aiko. It was only you. And you were the first person I saw after I woke up in the forest. You were there. It's only because of you that I'm alive, Yakumo-kun." She paused, feeling something cold wash over her, and it wasn't the chilling winter wind.

_"I wanted nothing more than to see you so I could tell you that… I just stared out that window silently praying you would come so that I wouldn't lose my chance to tell you that. And I'm not afraid! I've never been so fearless in my life. I don't even care if you feel the same way about me. Aiko took away my fear…"_

The memory of what she had said to him that day in the hospital came back to her and hit her like a cold slap across the face. She had told him she was no longer afraid, and even so, she went out of her way to avoid him because of senseless, stupid fear. She had the urge to kick herself for being so stupid and selfish. "Yakumo… I'm sorry for avoiding you all this time. I was afraid and I shouldn't have been. Please forgive me," the words flooded out of her like air escaping a punctured balloon. She felt heavy after saying them aloud, for they only solidified how angry and frustrated she was with herself.

"What did you have to be afraid of?" he asked her, honestly curious to hear her answer being as it was blatantly obvious it took so much out of her to say it. For a split second he feared that he had finally gotten under her skin and terrified her at last, like all the others before him.

Haruka buried her forehead into his shoulder blade as if she couldn't bear to face him. "I was afraid you were going to reject me," she mumbled. He detected the shame she had failed to hide in her voice and instantly, he felt all of his composure leave him.

"So that's what all of this was about…" It was such a simple thing to fear, really. It was so simple that Yakumo wanted to laugh at it. Of all the things she had to fear, she had chosen to be afraid of how he felt, when she of all people should be the least worried about that. It was so like her to be scared of something as ridiculous as him rejecting her. It was so like Haruka that is practically screamed how normal she was.

During Yakumo's inner musings, Haruka had grown quiet. He sensed that she was still uneasy about something, and just as his sharp eyes slid her way, she began to speak again in that familiar, modestly embarrassed tone.

"Yakumo… what do you think of me?" Her question hung in the air for a long, peaceful moment and before he had taken notice to it, he had stopped walking in order to fully grasp the question she had just asked. He had often wondered this same question to himself on many occasions and had never fully gotten an answer.

"I don't know," he responded honestly. "I don't particularly dislike you," he added after a split second of consideration, hoping that the first comment wasn't taken too harshly.

"You're lying!" She retorted heatedly, as if she had entered a territory she could not back away from. "Even if I'm wrong, I know that there's something you refuse to tell me. Please, just be honest and give me the truth. You know how I feel, and I think you've known for a long time. But it's time for you to tell me what you're thinking. Please."

Yakumo's eyebrows furrowed in frustration as his heart and his brain warred with each other within him. He knew that she was right, as she often was with him, the direct result of all of the time they had spent in each other's presence. He was becoming just as easy to read as she was. His instincts told him to clam up and keep his mouth shut in order to protect himself because not one good thing has ever come from speaking his mind. On the other hand, how could he refuse what the girl asked of him so honestly and desperately? She had never once given him any reason to suspect that she'd betray him or even intentionally do him any wrongs. Through his past, his mistakes, everything, she was still standing beside him, like she always had been and most likely always will.

"Haruka," he began, once again addressing her by her first name, a habit he could not seem to break. He inhaled slowly, gaining his composure second by second, carefully trying to figure out how he should word his thoughts. "I'm only human. All of this is basically new to me. I honestly don't know what to think about you. I simply know that it feels like you have always been by my side, and I can't remember what it was like when you weren't there."

Haruka's eyes had widened as the boy who diligently carried her spoke, sounding so sincere that she dared not even breath, fearing the slightest movement she made would disrupt him. She hung onto each word, trying to absorb them all, as her brain insistently reminded her that _Yakumo_ was the one uttering them. Her heart was beating with the pace of a hummingbird's wings, preparing to shoot right out of her chest.

"So … remain by my side," he added, hesitating only slightly. "Don't leave it again," Yakumo finished in an insistent tone that bore only desperation and uneasiness.

Haruka was finally able to close her mouth as her brain wrapped around the words he just spoke and endlessly repeated them over and over again inside her head.

_Remain by my side… remain by my side… remain by my side… _

Her stomach fluttered and her heart hammered, making her dizzy with the combatting emotions of happiness and elation. She found herself to be so touched by his words that tears welled into her eyes, causing her to tremble. "Always," she promised genuinely, unable to keep the slight warble out of her voice.

Yakumo set her down as soon as they both realized that they were in front of her apartment complex and it was time for them to part. Haruka gazed up at him with wide, faraway eyes that held so much promise and contentment he had no choice but to look away. Haruka leaned in and planted a gentle, yet swift kiss on his cheek before stepping away, blushing like mad. Yakumo, still having enough in him to be surprised by her action, could only stare at her with wide, unblinking eyes.

Haruka grinned at him. "I'll see you tomorrow, alright? After all, the cases are sure to be piling up by now." Yakumo's face had changed colors, yet Haruka refused to belief that he was self-conscious. No, Yakumo didn't blush. It wasn't like him. The slight pinkness tinting his cheekbones was due to the exertion of carrying her all the way across campus without stopping. Yes, that was it.

"Ah," he verbalized, the only indication that he had heard what she had said. Haruka turned heading toward the stairs that led up to her apartment number.

"Haruka," Yakumo stated before she could reach the first step. She turned and looked over her shoulder at him in mild confusion. He wasn't looking at her now, but there was no doubt in her mind that he was speaking only to her. "Thank you," he said at last, his voice barely audible.

Haruka blinked, surprised at his sudden comment. "Ne…? What for?" she queried, earning nothing but a small smirk in response. With that, Yakumo turned and disappeared into the shadows, making his way back to the university.

_Perhaps one day he'll tell me,_ Haruka thought with a smile lighting up her face as she made her way up the slim staircase and into her apartment.

_Until then, I'll patiently wait._

-X

**A/N:** That's the end, guys. The official finale. Thanks for sticking with me this long and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It seemed fitting that I should end this on its one year anniversary, even though it's two days late. I hope you'll forgive me for how long it took to update this. I had a really, _really _hard time writing this and constantly went back and forth with the scenes I wanted to include or not include.

It. Is. So. Hard. To. Keep. Yakumo. In. Character.

I hope I did him justice. Trying to get him to say how he feels is like pulling teeth and I hope he was still in character.

So what do you guys think he was thanking Haruka for? I too would like to know, hahaha. If you think you have an idea, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks to all of you who reviewed, added this to your favorites and subscriptions. I appreciate it all. Any questions, comments, concerns, please voice them in a review. I look forward to hearing each and every one of your opinions, even if it's not a good one.

Have a happy and safe holiday, everyone! Until we meet again, I love you all~! Stay safe and warm!


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